How do you get a GST/QST number for your business in Quebec?
GST and QST numbers come from a single free registration with Revenu Québec, mandatory once your taxable sales exceed $30,000; your NEQ does not replace them.
Your business must generally obtain its GST/QST tax numbers as soon as its taxable sales exceed $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the four preceding calendar quarters — that is the small supplier threshold. Registration is done with Revenu Québec, which administers both taxes in Quebec, and it is separate from your NEQ. Here is who must register, when to charge GST (5%) and QST (9.975%), the common exceptions and the mistakes to avoid.
Who must register for the GST and QST files?
GST and QST registration becomes mandatory above the $30,000 small supplier threshold, in one calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters; taxi, tobacco, fuel, alcohol and new tires require it from the first dollar.
You must register for the GST and QST files as soon as your taxable sales exceed $30,000 in a given calendar quarter or over the four calendar quarters that precede it. Below that threshold, you are a "small supplier": registration is generally optional, but often worthwhile.
Three clarifications. The threshold is measured on taxable supplies, including zero-rated ones, and it adds your sales to those of your associates — a notion that covers corporations you control or that are related to you. The test runs by calendar quarter (1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 October), not on your fiscal year and not on a rolling twelve months. And the threshold applies to every business form: the freelancer or self-employed worker is subject to it just like a corporation.
Even below $30,000, and before your first sale for the QST, registration is mandatory if you are in one of these situations (ETA, s. 240; Revenu Québec, Registering for the GST and QST):
- passenger transport for a fee — taxi at regulated fares, or transport arranged or coordinated through an electronic platform (commercial ride-sharing);
- retail sales of tobacco;
- retail sales of fuel;
- supplies of alcoholic beverages (unless you hold a reunion permit in force);
- sales of new tires or road vehicles other than your own capital property, plus retail leasing of new tires and long-term leasing of road vehicles;
- charging admission to the public when you are not resident in Québec (or in Canada, for the GST), for activities or events held in Québec (or in Canada, for the GST).
This forced registration applies only to the activity concerned: you remain a small supplier — with no tax to charge — for your other activities. And apart from passenger transport and admissions, these are Québec-only obligations: you would charge QST without charging GST.
Even below $30,000, you can register voluntarily to recover the taxes paid on your business expenses — input tax credits (ITCs) on the GST side, input tax refunds (ITRs) on the QST side. Often worthwhile if you are investing at startup; in return, you charge the taxes and file your returns.
When do you start charging GST and QST?
You charge GST and QST as soon as you stop being a small supplier, even without a number; apply before that first sale for the QST, within 29 days after it for the GST.
It is not registration that lets you charge the taxes: it is making a taxable sale. So you start collecting as soon as you stop being a small supplier — even if your number has not been issued yet.
Two possible scenarios:
- Exceeding the threshold within a single calendar quarter: you immediately lose small supplier status, and the sale that crosses the threshold already carries the taxes.
- Exceeding it over four consecutive quarters (without exceeding it in any single quarter): you keep the status until the end of the calendar month that follows those four quarters. Careful: that is a month of status, not a grace period for your paperwork. While it runs you have nothing to collect; the moment it ends, you collect.
When must you apply to register? The two regimes do not give you the same deadline:
| Regime | Deadline to apply |
|---|---|
| GST | before the 30th day following your first taxable sale made otherwise than as a small supplier — so no later than the 29th day (ETA, s. 240(2.1)) |
| QST | before that first sale — no grace period |
When in doubt, register early: taxes not collected after losing the status remain payable whether you charged them or not — plus a 15% penalty for failing to collect (TAA, s. 59.2). To budget your entire startup, see our incorporation cost guide.
Once registered, which taxes do you charge your clients?
A registered Quebec business charges the GST (TPS in French) at 5% and the QST (TVQ) at 9.975%, totalling 14.975% of the selling price: $149.75 of taxes on a $1,000 invoice.
In Quebec, a registered business charges 5% GST and 9.975% QST, for a total of 14.975%, both calculated on the selling price. On a $1,000 invoice, you therefore collect $149.75 in taxes, which you then remit to Revenu Québec after deducting your ITCs and ITRs.
| Tax | 2026 rate | Collected for | On a $1,000 invoice |
|---|---|---|---|
| GST | 5% | The federal government | $50.00 |
| QST | 9.975% | The Quebec government | $99.75 |
| Total | 14.975% | — | $149.75 |
To verify an amount in seconds — taxes to add to or extract from a price — use our free GST/QST calculator.
How do you apply for a GST/QST number?
You apply for a GST/QST number free of charge with Revenu Québec, in a single application: online with the Register a New Business service, or with form LM-1-V, Application for Registration.
In Quebec, registration for both taxes is done with Revenu Québec, which administers the GST on behalf of the federal government in addition to the QST. A single process registers you for both files, with no government fees: online, or by mail or in person with form LM-1-V. Registration by phone is not offered for the GST/QST files — it is available only for restaurant establishments and passenger transport.
Three entry points, depending on your situation (Revenu Québec, How to Register for the GST and QST):
- Never registered with Revenu Québec: the online service Register a New Business, even if you have been operating for some time. It also registers you, as needed, for source deductions, corporation income tax and clicSÉQUR.
- Already registered with Revenu Québec: the online registration service in My Account for businesses, Consumption Taxes section.
- On paper: form LM-1-V, Application for Registration, by mail or in person.
Setting up your share corporation? Our Complete package at $697 includes the GST/QST and source deductions registrations, prepared at the same time as your incorporation file.
Incorp-Québec is an incorporation document preparation service: our role is to prepare and file your incorporation documents. For a tax question specific to your situation, consult an accountant or Revenu Québec.
Incorporation + tax numbers: the Complete package at $697
Articles of incorporation, initial declaration with the REQ, official name, GST/QST and source deductions registrations: everything is prepared in a single file, with the $397 government fees included.
Is an NEQ required to register for GST/QST with Revenu Québec?
Not always: Revenu Québec asks for the NEQ only if the business has one; an unregistered self-employed person operating under their own first and last name can register for the taxes without an NEQ.
Form LM-1-V says so plainly: if the business has an NEQ, obtained from the Registraire des entreprises, it enters it; a partnership without an NEQ has the application signed by its partners. A person operating a business under their own first and last name generally does not have to register with the Registraire, except for a tobacco point of sale or a tanning salon (LPLE, s. 21). A corporation constituted in Québec always has an NEQ: the registrar registers it when its articles are filed and assigns it that number (LPLE, ss. 30 and 37).
The NEQ (Quebec enterprise number) identifies your business in the enterprise register; the GST and QST tax numbers identify it with Revenu Québec. They are separate identifiers: being registered or incorporated does not register you for the taxes, and holding tax numbers does not replace the NEQ.
What is the QST number format (10 digits, TQ0001)?
A QST registration number has 10 digits followed by TQ and four digits, often TQ0001; a GST number, 9 digits followed by RT and four digits, such as RT0001.
On the federal side, the 9 digits are your Canada Revenue Agency business number (BN); RT designates the GST/HST account, and the last four digits distinguish accounts of the same type.
| Identifier | Who issues it | What it is for | Usual format |
|---|---|---|---|
| NEQ | Registraire des entreprises | Identifying the business in the Quebec enterprise register | 10 digits |
| GST number | Revenu Québec | Collecting and remitting the GST | 9 digits followed by "RT0001" |
| QST number | Revenu Québec | Collecting and remitting the QST | 10 digits followed by "TQ0001" |
In other words: your inc. is born with an NEQ, never with tax numbers — that is a separate process, or included from day one with the Complete package.
How do you find or verify a business's GST/QST number?
A business's GST/QST number appears on its invoices from $100; to verify it, use the Canada Revenue Agency's GST/HST registry and Revenu Québec's QST registration number validity check.
- On its invoices and receipts: a registered business shows its numbers once the sale reaches $100. Without a valid number, the buyer cannot claim its tax credits on that purchase.
- GST: the Canada Revenue Agency's GST/HST registry, free and online, confirms that a GST number is valid.
- QST: Revenu Québec's online service for checking the validity of a QST registration number.
- Your own numbers, if you registered with Register a New Business: the service Track the Status of an Application for Registration: New Businesses shows your identification and file numbers and, if applicable, your GST account number.
Which sales escape the taxes: exempt or zero-rated supplies?
Exempt sales, such as long-term residential rents, and zero-rated sales at 0%, such as basic groceries or exports, escape the taxes; only zero-rated sales give entitlement to ITCs and ITRs.
Some sales escape the taxes: exempt supplies (long-term residential rents, most health care services, financial services) and zero-rated supplies, taxable at 0% (basic groceries, exports). The distinction may seem theoretical, but it changes your entitlement to input tax credits.
| Type of supply | Taxes to charge | ITCs/ITRs on your purchases | Common examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taxable | GST 5% + QST 9.975% | ✅ Yes | Professional services, goods, consulting |
| Zero-rated (taxable at 0%) | None (0% rate) | ✅ Yes | Basic groceries, exports |
| Exempt | None | ❌ No | Long-term residential rents, most health care and financial services |
If you sell only exempt supplies, you generally cannot register for those activities or recover the taxes paid on your expenses. Zero-rated supplies, however, count toward the $30,000 threshold and give entitlement to ITCs/ITRs.
What are the frequent mistakes (and how to avoid them)?
The costliest GST and QST mistakes: confusing the NEQ with the tax numbers, charging taxes without being registered, waiting for your number to collect, registering too late and forgetting your returns.
The costliest mistakes: confusing the NEQ with the tax numbers, charging taxes without being registered, registering too late after crossing the threshold, and forgetting to file your returns. Most come down to one misconception: tax registration is a process separate from incorporation and business registration.
- Adding "taxes" to your invoice while you are an unregistered small supplier. While you are below the threshold and unregistered, there is no tax to charge: the consideration for your sales is excluded from the calculation of tax payable. Any amount you collect anyway is not yours — you must remit it to the state, in good faith or bad, without being able to offset a single ITC or ITR. Your only way out is to refund it to your client, within two years. And your client recovers nothing: without a valid registration number on the invoice, their credit is denied from $100 up.
- Waiting for your number before you start charging. The mirror mistake, and the most expensive one. The moment you stop being a small supplier you must collect — number or no number. The taxes you should have charged remain due, plus a 15% penalty (TAA, s. 59.2).
- Checking the threshold once a year. The $30,000 test runs by calendar quarter, and over the four preceding quarters; watch both.
- Forgetting your associates' sales. The threshold adds your taxable sales to those of related corporations.
- Overlooking voluntary registration at startup. Big expenses without registration = ITCs and ITRs left on the table.
- Not filing your returns. Once registered, you file according to your assigned frequency, even with no sales.
- Leaving the numbers off your invoices. It is your GST and QST numbers — not your NEQ — that must appear on them, from $100 taxes included.
- Believing the corporation shields its directors. Taxes collected are held in trust for the state (ETA, s. 222(1); TAA, s. 20). If the corporation fails to remit them, its directors can become jointly and severally liable, interest and penalties included (TAA, s. 24.0.1; ETA, s. 323). That liability is not automatic: it requires one of the triggering events set out in the statute — an unsatisfied execution, a liquidation or dissolution, a bankruptcy — and it yields to a due diligence defence (TAA, s. 24.0.2; ETA, s. 323(3)). A separate bank account for taxes is not an accounting nicety.
- Calculating the taxes by hand. Rounding errors add up; our GST/QST calculator gives the exact amount in one click.
FAQ — GST/QST tax numbers: your questions
What is the difference between the NEQ and the tax numbers?
The NEQ, issued by the Registraire des entreprises, identifies your business in the Quebec public register. The GST and QST numbers, issued by Revenu Québec, are used to collect and remit the sales taxes. Three separate identifiers, but not three processes: a company incorporated in Québec receives its NEQ automatically when its articles are filed, and a single application opens both the GST file and the QST file.
Can I register for GST/QST before reaching $30,000?
Yes, voluntary registration is allowed below the small supplier threshold and gives entitlement to ITCs and ITRs on your expenses — often advantageous at startup. In return, you charge the taxes and file your returns, even below $30,000 in sales.
Is it free to obtain the tax numbers?
Yes: registration carries no government fees with Revenu Québec. With Incorp-Québec's Complete package at $697, the GST/QST and source deductions registrations are prepared along with the incorporation file.
What happens if I exceed $30,000 without registering?
The taxes become payable as soon as you lose small supplier status, whether you charged them or not: if you did not charge them, you pay them out of your own pocket. Add a 15% penalty on the amount you should have collected (TAA, s. 59.2), a 7% to 15% penalty on the late remittance, and interest at the prescribed rate. Regularize quickly, ideally with an accountant.
Do I have to charge GST and QST to a client outside Quebec?
It depends on the place-of-supply rules: for a client in another province, it is generally the GST or that province's HST that applies; exports outside Canada are often zero-rated. Confirm your situation with an accountant or Revenu Québec.
Is my newly incorporated company automatically registered for the taxes?
No. Incorporation assigns an NEQ to your company, but no tax numbers: registration for the GST/QST files is a separate process, subject to the $30,000 threshold — or mandatory from the first dollar if your company carries on one of the activities concerned (passenger transport, tobacco, fuel, alcoholic beverages, new tires, road vehicles). The Complete package at $697 includes it at the time of incorporation.
Is a receipt without a GST/QST number valid from a small supplier?
Yes: an unregistered small supplier charges neither GST nor QST, so its receipt carries neither taxes nor a number, and the buyer has no tax credit to claim. If it adds “taxes” anyway, it must remit them to the state, and its client cannot recover them.
Tax numbers from day one of your inc.
You now know the threshold, the 2026 rates and the pitfalls to avoid. When launching a share corporation, the simplest route is to settle everything at once: all-inclusive incorporation at $497, or the Complete package at $697 — official name and GST/QST registrations prepared along with your articles.
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