Amazon collects some Canadian sales taxes for you and leaves others entirely on your plate — and mixing up which is which is what gets sellers into trouble. Amazon.ca charges GST, HST, PST, or QST based on the buyer’s province, but whether that money gets remitted for you or lands in your payout for you to file depends on the tax type and where the customer lives. This guide breaks down the actual rates, who remits what, and how to fix the two most common mistakes: under-registering and overcharging.
What Is Amazon Sales Tax, Exactly?
Canada doesn’t have one flat sales tax. Amazon sellers deal with four kinds, and a single order can trigger more than one:
- GST (Goods and Services Tax) — federal, 5%, applies everywhere in Canada.
- HST (Harmonized Sales Tax): GST and the provincial tax merged into one rate, used in five provinces.
- PST (Provincial Sales Tax): a separate provincial tax charged on top of GST.
- QST (Quebec Sales Tax): Quebec’s own provincial tax, charged alongside GST.
Which one applies is determined by the buyer’s shipping address, not your business address or where your inventory sits.
Canadian Sales Tax Rates by Province
This is the table most guides skip. Print it or bookmark it you’ll reference it every time you set up a new SKU or check a settlement report.
| Province / Territory | Tax Type | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut | GST only | 5% |
| Ontario | HST | 13% |
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, PEI | HST | 15% |
| Nova Scotia | HST | 14% |
| British Columbia | GST + PST | 5% + 7% = 12% |
| Saskatchewan | GST + PST | 5% + 6% = 11% |
| Manitoba | GST + RST | 5% + 7% = 12% |
| Quebec | GST + QST | 5% + 9.975% = 14.975% |
Two things sellers get wrong with this table. First, they assume the rate is set by their own province — it isn’t, it follows the customer’s shipping address. Second, they treat all the “5% + provincial” rows as identical, when the remittance rules behind them are completely different, which is the next thing to understand.
Who Remits What: Amazon vs. You
This is the single most misunderstood part of Amazon sales tax, and it’s where most compliance mistakes start.
Amazon remits for you (marketplace facilitator rules):
- PST in British Columbia
- PST in Saskatchewan
- RST in Manitoba
For orders shipping into those three provinces, Amazon collects the provincial portion and pays it directly to the province. You don’t file a separate return for that piece.
You remain responsible for filing and remitting:
- GST (federal, 5%, everywhere)
- HST (Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, PEI)
- QST (Quebec)
Amazon calculates and collects these amounts at checkout and includes them in your payout but the money sitting in your payout isn’t yours to keep. It’s the CRA’s (or Revenu Québec’s, for QST), and you file a return to send it in. If you spend that cash thinking it’s revenue, you’ll be funding a tax bill out of pocket later.
Do You Need to Register? The CAD $30,000 Threshold
You’re required to register for a GST/HST number once your taxable sales pass CAD $30,000 in a single calendar quarter, or across four consecutive quarters this counts your total worldwide taxable supplies, not just Amazon.ca sales. Below that line, registration is optional.
Here’s the part sellers underweight: staying unregistered isn’t automatically the safer or cheaper move. Registering lets you claim back the GST/HST you already pay on Amazon referral fees, FBA fulfillment, storage, and PPC spend as Input Tax Credits (ITCs). If you’re running meaningful ad spend and paying FBA fees monthly, that tax is real money, and unregistered sellers simply can’t recover it.
If you store FBA inventory in multiple provinces, that’s also worth tracking it doesn’t change the destination-based tax rate charged to customers, but it can affect your registration and reporting obligations depending on your setup. When your footprint gets complicated (multiple warehouses, U.S. and Canadian listings, non-resident status), that’s the point where getting it reviewed properly through your accountant or a team doing hands-on Amazon seller account management saves more than it costs.
Reading Your Amazon Sales Tax Report
Seller Central generates a Combined Sales Tax Report under Reports > Tax Document Library. Most sellers never open it until something goes wrong. Here’s how to actually use it:
- Pull the report monthly, not just at filing time — waiting until year-end makes reconciliation painful.
- Match total tax collected against your GST/HST return before you file, not after.
- Separate the report by tax type: GST/HST/QST you owe versus BC/SK/MB provincial tax Amazon already remitted, so you never double-count or double-pay.
- Flag any order where the tax charged looks off for the destination province that’s your first sign of a Product Tax Code problem.
Reconciling this way is what actually prevents the CRA data-matching mismatches that trigger audits, since the agency can compare your filed returns directly against Amazon’s reported sales.
How to Fix an Amazon Sales Tax Overcharge
This is the gap none of the competitor guides address, and it’s a real, recurring problem. Sellers overcharge customers when a Product Tax Code (PTC) is set wrong for example, an item that should be zero-rated or exempt gets tagged as fully taxable, or a listing inherits the wrong default code after a catalog migration.
What to do if you spot it:
- Check the PTC assigned to the ASIN in Seller Central under your listing’s tax settings.
- Compare it against CRA guidance for that product category (groceries, children’s clothing, and certain medical items often carry reduced or zero rates).
- Correct the PTC going forward this fixes future orders immediately.
- For past overcharges, Amazon doesn’t automatically refund collected tax; you’ll need to work through Seller Support or, in significant cases, address it as part of your return with your accountant.
- Audit new SKUs at launch, not after a customer complains a five-minute check per listing beats a support ticket and a refund later.
Getting this wrong the other way undercharging is worse for you financially, since you become liable for the shortfall yourself.
Amazon Tax Exemption Program (ATEP)
Business, government, and non-profit buyers can register for Amazon’s tax exemption program and submit a valid CRA exemption certificate or registration number. Once approved, ATEP purchases skip GST/HST/PST automatically at checkout. As a seller, you don’t need to do anything extra for eligible items Amazon applies the exemption on its end but it’s worth knowing this exists so an exempt order doesn’t look like a tax error in your reconciliation.
Claiming ITCs and Automating the Process
Once registered, track these expenses separately so nothing gets missed at filing time:
- GST/HST paid on Amazon referral fees, FBA fulfillment, and storage
- GST/HST on PPC advertising spend
- Import GST paid at the border on inventory brought into Canada (customs duties are separate and are not claimable as an ITC)
Rolling import GST into your inventory cost instead of tracking it as a recoverable credit is one of the most common ways sellers lose money without realizing it. Tools like Amazon’s Tax Calculation Service handle the collection side, but reconciliation software (QuickBooks or Xero integrations built for Amazon data) is what actually catches these credits automation reduces errors, it doesn’t replace someone checking the numbers monthly.
When to Bring In a Filing or Registration Service
DIY works fine for a single-province, single-marketplace seller under the $30,000 threshold. It stops working once you’re registered for GST/HST, selling on both Amazon.ca and Amazon.com, or running FBA inventory across provinces. At that point, a bookkeeper or agency familiar with marketplace tax rules can set up your PTCs correctly the first time, catch ITCs you’d otherwise miss, and keep your filings aligned with what Amazon actually reports which matters more once your PPC spend and campaign structure start scaling and the tax side needs to scale with it.
Amazon Canada Sales Tax Compliance Checklist
- Register for GST/HST once you cross CAD $30,000 in sales (or earlier, voluntarily, if ITCs make sense for you)
- Confirm your PTCs match the actual taxability of each product
- Pull the Combined Sales Tax Report monthly and reconcile against your books
- Separate BC/SK/MB provincial tax (Amazon-remitted) from GST/HST/QST (seller-remitted)
- Track import GST separately from inventory cost
- File on your assigned frequency — monthly, quarterly, or annually
- Review your setup any time you add a new province, marketplace, or product category
FAQs
Does Amazon collect all my sales tax for me in Canada?
No. Amazon collects and remits PST in BC, SK, and MB directly to those provinces. For GST, HST, and QST, Amazon collects the tax and includes it in your payout, but you’re the one who files and remits it.
What happens if I don’t register once I pass $30,000 in sales?
You can become liable for GST/HST on taxable sales from the date you were required to register, even if you didn’t actually charge and collect it during that window meaning you’d owe it out of pocket.
Can I get in trouble for overcharging customers?
It’s less severe than undercharging, but it creates customer complaints, refund requests, and reconciliation headaches. Fix the Product Tax Code as soon as you spot it.
Is GST/HST registration worth it below the $30,000 threshold?
Often yes, if you’re paying meaningful GST/HST on Amazon fees, ads, or imported inventory registering lets you claim that back as Input Tax Credits.
Where do I find my Amazon Canada tax reports?
Seller Central, under Reports > Tax Document Library. Look for the Combined Sales Tax Report.
Getting your Amazon Canada tax setup right protects your account and your margins but it’s only half the equation. If your listings and PPC aren’t converting that traffic, compliance alone won’t grow the business. Run through our Amazon listing SEO checklist next to make sure the rest of your account is pulling its weight.
