The objective of this article is to provide a summary of the
registration requirements for sales tax purposes that may be
applicable to an e-commerce supplier who is a non-resident of
Canada (a “Merchant”) that is selling
goods and services in Canada.
This article is not intended to be comprehensive (i.e., to cover
every aspect of the sales tax legislation and registration
requirements). It is intended to provide an overview of some of the
more significant sales tax registration requirements applicable in
Canada. We have also included a reference map with the current tax
rates for the provinces and territories of Canada for your
convenience.
Federal sales tax regime
Canada is a federation that is made up of 10 provinces and three
territories. A federal value-added-tax
(“VAT”) of five per cent called the
Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) applies
across the country on the sale of most properties and services as
well as on the importation of most goods in Canada. In
