Excise Tax Act s. 148
A small supplier is a supplier whose worldwide annual GST/HST taxable solutions are less than $30,000, or less than $50,000 for public service bodies. The supplies include zero-rated supplies, and includes the supplies of all associates. An important piece to note is that the calculation of annual revenue is not done on a calendar year basis. Rather it is done at the end of each calendar quarter. So total gross revenue for the past 4 consecutive quarters should be totaled. If this total exceeds $30,000, then the supplier must register for GST/HST.
Mandatory Registration
A small supplier must register for GST/HST if they carry on a tax business in accordance with subsection 240(1.1) of the Excise Tax Act of Canada.
Subsection 240(2) requires anyone who “enters Canada for the purpose of making taxable supplies of admissions in respect of a place of amusement, a seminar, an activity or an event is required to be registered.”
There is increasing debate as to whether ride-share drivers must register for GST/HST. At the moment CRA has provided no guidance.
Voluntary Registration
If you are a small supplier you may voluntarily register for GST/HST. In a lot of situations this is done to recover the GST/HST one would pay on supplies. This is known as claiming input tax credits.
CRA Resources:
Small Supplier Limit Calculation
RC4022 General Information for GST/HST Registrants – Small Supplier
GST/HST Memorandum – Small suppliers – 2-2-e.html