Who this applies to
People who work for themselves and sell goods or services in Canada: contractors, consultants, cleaners, landscapers, online sellers, delivery drivers and similar. Corporations use the same tests.
One thing most people do not realize
There are two different $30,000 tests, with different timing. Pass $30,000 inside one calendar quarter and you stop being a small supplier on the very sale that took you over. Pass it only across four quarters together and you stop at the end of the month after that quarter. The number is the same; the date GST starts is not.
Revenue, not profit
The threshold looks at what you charged customers for taxable goods and services, before any expenses. If you invoiced $34,000 and had $20,000 of costs, you are over $30,000 for this purpose. Profit does not come into it.
The two tests
The CRA calls a business under the threshold a small supplier. You stop being one, and must register, in either of two situations.
Test 1: one calendar quarter. A calendar quarter is three months: January to March, April to June, July to September, or October to December. If your sales go over $30,000 inside one quarter, you have to register right away. Your registration starts no later than the day of the sale that took you over.
Test 2: the last four quarters together. Maybe no single quarter went over. But if the last four quarters add up to more than $30,000, you have to register. You stop being a small supplier at the end of the month after the quarter that took you over. From then on, your first sale is the one you must charge GST on.
In both cases the CRA gives you 29 days from the effective date to complete the registration.
Two made-up examples. (Made-up names and figures.)
Example A. Priya starts a cleaning business in January. She bills $7,000, $8,000, $9,000 and $9,000 in the four quarters of the year. No single quarter passes $30,000. But the four together are $33,000. So she stops being a small supplier at the end of January, the month after the fourth quarter. Her first sale in February must include GST, and she has 29 days from that sale to complete the registration.
Example B. Manny does one large contracting job in July and bills $32,000 that quarter. He passed $30,000 in a single quarter, so registration is required immediately, effective from the sale that took him over. It does not matter what the rest of the year looks like.
Who must register regardless of the amount
Some businesses have to register even below $30,000. The one that comes up most often locally: self-employed taxi and rideshare drivers must register from the start. If you drive for a rideshare app, you are a GST registrant from your first fare. Delivery-only work (food or parcels) generally follows the normal small-supplier tests. If you do both, the rideshare part triggers registration and you need to talk it through.
Other cases with special rules include charities and public service bodies, which use different thresholds, and certain non-residents. We can check yours.
Registering voluntarily
You can register before you have to. Some businesses do, because it lets them recover GST paid on their own purchases, or because customers expect it. Once registered you must charge GST and file returns on schedule, so it is a decision to make deliberately, not by default.
What to have handy when you ask us
- Roughly what you sold in each calendar quarter for the last year
- What kind of work it is, especially if any of it is rideshare or delivery
- Whether you already have a CRA business number
- Whether you have ever charged or been asked about GST before
Official sources
- CRA: When to register for and start charging the GST/HST
- CRA: Tax obligations for commercial ridesharing and delivery services
This guide is general information, not advice about your situation. It reflects the rules for the 2025 and 2026 tax years. It has not yet been reviewed by a practitioner. The information was checked against the official sources listed above on the date shown. Rules change. Check the official sources above or ask us. How we prepare these guides.