In short
- For an ordinary Canadian online store, the GST/HST small supplier limit is C$30,000 of worldwide taxable revenue before expenses, including relevant associated businesses. Exceeding it in one calendar quarter makes the crossing sale taxable; exceeding it across consecutive quarters creates a later registration date.
- Count qualifying zero-rated sales as well as sales on which GST/HST would normally be charged. A foreign customer does not automatically remove revenue from the threshold.
- Carrier labels, packing fees and marketplace deductions reduce your margin, but they do not reduce gross taxable revenue for this test.
- Small supplier status concerns federal GST/HST. Provincial sales-tax registration needs a separate review.
- AirPost is a peer-to-peer fulfilment network: online shops have their orders packed and dropped at a parcel point by verified people near their customers, who earn a fee per parcel from home. No warehouse, no minimum order volume.
Your marketplace payout is smaller than the orders you sold. Your bank balance is smaller again after postage and stock purchases. Neither figure tells you whether your webshop has crossed the GST/HST registration boundary. The CRA measures revenue from taxable supplies before expenses, so you need the sales records behind those settlements.
This guide covers a Canadian goods retailer under the normal GST/HST rules, using CRA guidance checked on 14 October 2026. It separates the amount you monitor from the date collection begins. Those are different decisions: a store can calculate its revenue correctly and still enable checkout tax on the wrong day.
Which sales belong in your C$30,000 calculation?
Start with worldwide taxable supplies, including zero-rated supplies. For a sole proprietor, the CRA includes taxable revenue from all your businesses and relevant associates. A partnership or corporation likewise considers its taxable revenue and associated persons. Two storefront names do not create two independent limits when the supplies belong to the same proprietor.
Separate taxable, zero-rated and exempt transactions in your export. Zero-rated means taxable at 0%, so that category can still count. Exempt supplies have a different classification. The CRA excludes revenue from financial services, sales of capital property and goodwill from selling a business when determining this threshold. Do not classify an ordinary stock sale as a capital-asset disposal simply because it clears old inventory.
Keep the source invoice and the reason for each exclusion. For an export, record its tax classification rather than filtering every non-Canadian address out of the worksheet. For an asset disposal, identify the asset separately from merchandise. This makes it possible to explain why a transaction was omitted instead of reconstructing the decision from an unlabeled spreadsheet cell.
Why does a marketplace payout give the wrong answer?
A payout can combine customer payments, refunds, marketplace fees, postage purchases and adjustments from different dates. Using that net deposit as sales revenue can hide part of your taxable turnover. Export order-level sales first, then reconcile the marketplace settlement as a separate accounting step. The registration worksheet should not inherit every deduction that happens to appear on a payout report.
| Record from your store | Treatment in the threshold review | Evidence to retain |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying taxable product sale | Include revenue before business expenses | Order, invoice and supply date |
| Qualifying zero-rated export sale | Include; a 0% rate is not an exclusion | Invoice and export classification |
| Marketplace commission deducted from settlement | Do not subtract as a business expense | Fee statement linked to orders |
| Carrier label or packing service purchased | Keep in costs, outside the revenue deduction | Supplier invoice and shipment reference |
| Capital property sold | Review the CRA exclusion separately | Asset record identifying what was sold |
| Associated business revenue | Include where association rules require it | Entity and association assessment |
Customer delivery charges also need a classification. Where delivery forms part of your taxable sale of goods, it is part of the revenue for that supply, even if you spend the same amount buying transport. A delivery charge retained by your store is not automatically a pass-through disbursement. If another party supplies delivery directly to the buyer, establish that arrangement from the contracts.
What changes if one quarter alone goes over the limit?
Calendar quarters begin on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. The CRA tests whether revenue exceeds C$30,000 within a single quarter. If it does, you stop being a small supplier on the supply that takes you over. You must charge GST/HST on that supply, with an effective registration date no later than that day.
The entire crossing supply needs its proper tax treatment. The rule does not say to tax only the dollars above C$30,000. Exactly C$30,000 and more than C$30,000 are also different results. Use a strict greater-than comparison for this boundary rather than rounding revenue to the nearest thousand or treating the threshold as a tax-free allowance.
CRA guidance gives 29 days from the effective registration date to register. That administrative interval does not postpone collection. If checkout is still treating every sale as unregistered during those days, your records need correction. Monitor within the quarter when a crossing is plausible; waiting for a year-end bookkeeping session will not identify the first affected order in time.
What if several quarters add up to more than C$30,000?
The second path applies when you exceed the limit across the previous four or fewer consecutive calendar quarters without exceeding it in a single quarter. You remain a small supplier until the end of the month following the quarter of the crossing. Registration is effective no later than your first supply after that small-supplier period ends.
The CRA’s published baseball-cap example has quarter revenues of C$2,000, C$10,000, C$12,000 and C$8,000: C$32,000 together, with no individual quarter over the limit. That example ends small-supplier status on 30 April and uses the first subsequent sale on 2 May as the latest effective registration date. Those are official example figures, not AirPost customer results.
Do not replace this test with a rolling daily twelve-month report. Four calendar quarters have fixed boundaries. Keep both a current-quarter total and the completed consecutive-quarter history. Your fiscal year may end on another date, and a dashboard labelled “this year” can reset while the CRA’s consecutive-quarter calculation still includes earlier taxable revenue.
Can cheaper shipping keep your store below the threshold?
It can improve margin, but a lower purchased label cost does not lower taxable sales revenue. On 14 October 2026, AirPost’s Canada-to-Canada options displayed Canada Post Expedited Parcel for a small parcel from approximately C$13.70, including the platform fee. The fee agreed with your sender is additional, and the actual route needs a fresh quote.
Apply that budget reference to the CRA’s C$32,000 example: C$32,000 − C$13.70 = C$31,986.30 after one such transport cost. That subtraction may belong in a cost worksheet, but the revenue test remains C$32,000. It does not become C$31,986.30. Sender remuneration, packaging and other expenses follow the same distinction between turnover and profitability.
The displayed Canadian-dollar amount is a planning reference, not proof of the GST/HST shown on a supplier invoice. The live page says its conversion uses the ECB daily rate and payment is in euros. Preserve the actual billed currency and exchange basis for your records. You cannot derive an input tax credit merely by multiplying a displayed shipping budget by a Canadian tax rate.
What should you prepare before enabling GST/HST at checkout?
Reconcile the legal seller
Combine the relevant stores, channels and businesses. Record any associated persons included in the calculation.
Run both quarter tests
Identify whether a single-quarter supply triggered registration or the consecutive-quarter route applies. Save the calculation and dates.
Set the effective date
Match the CRA timing rule to your actual first affected supply. Register within the stated interval rather than treating it as a collection holiday.
Test delivered orders
Check goods, customer delivery charges, product exemptions and destination rates. Keep the receipt from a test transaction.
Separate the tax accounts
Record customer GST/HST apart from sales revenue and eligible purchase tax apart from transport costs. Review PST obligations independently.
You may register voluntarily while still a small supplier if you make qualifying taxable supplies. Once registered, you collect applicable GST/HST and file returns; you do not switch collection off whenever a quiet month brings sales below the threshold. Registration can also make eligible purchase tax recoverable, but that is a separate calculation from deciding whether registration is compulsory.
When someone else holds your stock, keep the seller’s revenue ledger under your control. AirPost’s seller page describes arranging order preparation with a local sender. For the physical records behind sales and returns, use the small-business inventory ledger. Stock movements help explain orders; they do not replace the taxable-revenue calculation.
Frequently asked questions
Is the GST small supplier limit based on profit?
No. The ordinary-business test uses worldwide taxable revenue before expenses, with relevant associates included. Postage, stock costs and marketplace fees do not turn it into a profit threshold.
Do zero-rated sales count toward the GST/HST limit?
Yes. Qualifying zero-rated supplies count as taxable supplies for this calculation. Exempt supplies and the CRA’s stated exclusions require separate treatment.
Must I charge HST on the sale that crosses C$30,000?
Yes if that supply makes you exceed the limit within a single calendar quarter. The applicable tax concerns the whole supply, not only the excess. Crossing across consecutive quarters follows a later timing rule.
Do separate online stores each get a small supplier limit?
Not simply because they have separate names. A sole proprietor includes taxable supplies from all their businesses; relevant associated-business revenue also matters.
Can a small supplier still have PST obligations?
Yes. Federal GST/HST small supplier status does not decide British Columbia or Saskatchewan PST registration. Review the provincial rules for the actual goods and selling arrangement.
Sources
- CRA: registration threshold, quarter definitions, timing, 29-day registration and official sales examples; checked 14 October 2026
- CRA memorandum 2-2: small suppliers, taxable revenue and association rules
- CRA: voluntary registration and ongoing collection obligations
- CRA: delivered supplies, customer delivery and single versus multiple supplies
- AirPost: CA-to-CA small-parcel budget from approximately C$13.70, platform fee included; retrieved 14 October 2026
Keep shipping costs in your margin calculation while you monitor gross taxable sales. Compare a Canadian dispatch arrangement using the actual route and your sender’s agreed fee.
Plan your Canadian dispatch costs