GST/HST on Short-Term Rentals in Canada: The 30,000 Dollar Test

A Canadian host has to register for GST/HST once the money from short stays passes 30,000 dollars in any four consecutive calendar quarters. Below that line, registration is optional. Above it, the tax is owed whether or not you charged it, which is the part that hurts.

Which stays count

Only stays under 30 consecutive nights are taxable. A guest who books 30 nights or more is renting a residence, and that rent is exempt. The test adds up the gross from short stays before platform fees. It uses calendar quarters, so a busy summer can trip the threshold in the fall, when you are least likely to be looking at the numbers.

Gross means the amount the guest paid for the accommodation, before the platform took its host fee. A payout of 698 dollars on a 720 dollar booking counts as 720. The tracker keeps both numbers so this never needs working backwards.

The four-quarter test, in plain arithmetic

1. Write down the gross from short stays for each calendar quarter.
2. Add the last four quarters together, every quarter.
3. The first time that total passes 30,000, you have to register. The clock starts the day you crossed it.
4. Register with the CRA and start charging on the next booking.

The Canada edition of the Income and Expense Tracker does this on a tab of its own. It reads the Income sheet, adds up each quarter, and flags the one that crosses. You still have to look at it, so put it in the monthly close.

What registering early gets you

You can register before the threshold. The reason to do it is input tax credits. Once registered, the GST/HST you pay on cleaning, supplies, furniture, and repairs comes back to you on the return. The trade is that you charge the tax on every night from that point on. Either your listed price goes up or your margin comes down.

Run the arithmetic before deciding. A host spending 8,000 dollars a year on taxable expenses in a 5 percent province gets 400 dollars back. In a 13 percent or 15 percent HST province the same spending returns over a thousand. Against that, every night gets more expensive for the guest, and in a market where the competition is unregistered, that shows.

Registering: what the CRA asks for

• A business number, which the CRA issues when you open the GST/HST account.
• An effective date. If you crossed the threshold, it is the day you crossed, and the tax is owed from then.
• A reporting period. Small accounts file yearly by default; quarterly is available and often easier to keep up with.
• Your fiscal year end, which for most individual hosts is December 31.

Who collects it on the platforms

Airbnb and the other large platforms collect and remit GST/HST for hosts who are not registered. Once you register, you give the platform your number and the tax becomes yours to collect and remit. Check which case you are in. Hosts assume the platform is handling it and then find out it stopped the day they registered, with a year of uncollected tax owed out of pocket.

Direct bookings

On a direct booking there is no platform, so a registered host collects the tax themselves. It goes on the receipt as its own line, with your registration number printed beside it, because a registered business has to show the number on invoices. If you take direct bookings through the Book Direct page, set the nightly rate as the pre-tax amount and add the tax lines on the invoice you send.

The provincial taxes stack on top

• British Columbia: PST at 8 percent on accommodation, plus the MRDT of up to 3 percent in communities that collect it. The BC registry article has the details.
• Toronto: a 6 percent Municipal Accommodation Tax as of August 1, 2026. The Toronto rules article covers registration, the 180-night cap, and who collects it.
• Quebec: the tax on lodging at 3.5 percent, plus QST at 9.975 percent on the same threshold as GST, both calculated on the total including the lodging tax.

These are separate registrations with separate returns. The Registry, Permit and Tax Tracker has a matrix for all of them, with a column for the date you last checked the rate.

The rule that makes all of this matter more

Since January 1, 2024, the Income Tax Act denies every expense on a short-term rental that does not comply with provincial and municipal licensing and zoning. Tax registration and a licence are different things, but they get checked together. A host who is registered for GST/HST and unlicensed at city hall has a bigger problem than the tax.

Common mistakes

• Counting payouts instead of gross, and crossing the threshold a quarter earlier than the spreadsheet said.
• Registering, then assuming the platform kept collecting.
• Forgetting the 30-night exemption and charging tax on a monthly tenant, who then has grounds to ask for it back.
• Claiming input tax credits on personal-use portions of a shared property. Only the rental share qualifies.
• Filing the T776 without the GST/HST collected and remitted being separated out. The bookkeeping basics article covers keeping tax money apart from income.

What to do this week

1. Add up the gross from short stays for the last four quarters.
2. If it is over 30,000, register now. The tax is owed from the day you crossed.
3. If it is under, decide whether the input tax credits are worth charging the tax.
4. Confirm with each platform whether it collects for you today.
5. Put the quarterly check in the calendar.

Everything above was checked against the Canada Revenue Agency in August 2026. Rates and thresholds change. Re-check every January, and see Hosting in Canada for the provincial rules alongside this one.