• The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) is a combination of federal and provincial taxes on goods and services in Canada’s five provinces.

  • The HST tax rate is 15% in all participating provinces except Ontario where it is 13%.
  • The concept of HST was to simplify the registration and collection of federal and provincial sales taxes by combining them into a single single collection across Canada.
  • Foreign buyers of Canadian goods do not have to pay HST on the condition that the goods or services will be used exclusively outside the country.
  • Critics argue that HST shifts the burden of taxation to consumers, but proponents of the tax say it ultimately benefits consumers by reducing costs.