TPS, TVQ & GST: the Canadian freelancer's tax guide

Canadian sales taxes are confusing — especially when you work for yourself. You have the federal TPS (Taxe sur les produits et services, or GST in English), and in Quebec, the provincial TVQ (Taxe de vente du Québec, or QST). Many freelancers either ignore them until a notice arrives, or overpay because they don't claim everything they're entitled to.

This guide covers the essentials: when you need to register, when you charge taxes to clients, and when you can claim them back on your own purchases — what the CRA calls Input Tax Credits (ITCs).

TPS/GST vs. TVQ/QST — what's the difference?

Canada has two levels of sales tax relevant to most freelancers:

• TPS / GST — Federal tax, currently 5%. Applies everywhere in Canada.
• TVQ / QST — Quebec provincial tax, currently 9.975%. Applies to sales made in Quebec.

If you're based in another province (Ontario, BC, etc.), you likely deal with HST instead — a combined federal/provincial rate. This guide focuses on Quebec, where the TPS + TVQ combination is most common among French-speaking freelancers.

When do you need to register?

You are not required to register for TPS/TVQ until your revenues exceed $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, or over four consecutive quarters. This is the "small supplier" threshold.

Once you cross that threshold, you have 29 days to register with the CRA (TPS) and Revenu Québec (TVQ). You can also register voluntarily before hitting $30,000 — which is often smart, because it lets you immediately claim back the taxes you pay on business expenses.

Charging TPS/TVQ to your clients

Once registered, you must add TPS and TVQ on top of every invoice to a Canadian client. Your invoice shows:

• Your service fee (the base amount)
• TPS: 5% of the base
• TVQ: 9.975% of the base
• Total owing

The taxes you collect belong to the government — you remit them on a quarterly or annual basis depending on your revenue level. This is the part that catches many freelancers off guard: that tax money you collected isn't income. Don't spend it.

Claiming taxes back on your expenses (ITCs / RTIs)

Here's the benefit of being registered: you can deduct the TPS and TVQ you paid on business expenses from the taxes you owe. These are called Input Tax Credits (ITCs) at the federal level, and Remboursement de la taxe sur les intrants (RTIs) in Quebec.

Every receipt for a business expense — software subscriptions, office supplies, a new laptop, professional fees — contains TPS and/or TVQ. You can claim all of it back, which effectively makes you exempt from these taxes on business purchases.

• Internet subscription: $50 + $2.50 TPS + $4.99 TVQ → you claim back $7.49
• New keyboard: $150 + $7.50 TPS + $14.96 TVQ → you claim back $22.46
• Accounting software: $120/yr + $6 TPS + $11.97 TVQ → you claim back $17.97

How CURA handles TPS/TVQ automatically

Manually separating pre-tax amounts from tax amounts across dozens of receipts each month is exactly the kind of work that gets skipped — and then costs you at filing time.

CURA's AI reads your receipts and invoices and automatically extracts:

• The pre-tax subtotal
• The TPS/GST amount
• The TVQ/QST amount
• The total paid

Everything is stored per transaction. Your monthly report shows a full breakdown — total expenses, total TPS paid, total TVQ paid — so you or your accountant have everything needed to file without digging through paper.

Practical tips

• Register early. Even before $30,000, registering lets you claim back taxes on startup costs immediately.
• Keep every receipt. ITCs require documented proof. A photo in CURA is enough.
• Set money aside monthly. Calculate your net TPS/TVQ (collected minus paid) and put it in a separate account — don't treat it as income.
• File on time. Late remittances carry interest charges. Set a calendar reminder for your filing deadlines.
• Work with an accountant for the first year. The setup cost is worth avoiding first-year mistakes.