HST Filing Deadlines in Ontario, and How to File Online

In Ontario, GST and the provincial sales tax are combined into a single harmonized sales tax (HST). Registered businesses collect it on their sales, subtract the tax they paid on business purchases (input tax credits), and report the difference to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on a GST/HST return. When that return is due depends almost entirely on one setting in your CRA account: your reporting period.

Below is a summary of the CRA's published rules as of November 2026. It's general information; your own due dates appear in your CRA business account, and those are the ones to go by.

The deadlines at a glance

• Monthly filers: return and payment due one month after the end of each month. July's return is due August 31.
• Quarterly filers: return and payment due one month after the end of each quarter. A quarter ending March 31 is due April 30.
• Annual filers (most businesses): return and payment due three months after the fiscal year-end. A corporation with a December 31 year-end files and pays by March 31.
• Annual filers who are individuals with business income and a December 31 year-end: payment due April 30, return due June 15.

These come from the CRA's reporting requirements and deadlines page. If a due date lands on a weekend or a public holiday the CRA recognizes, the CRA treats a return or payment received on the next business day as on time.

How your reporting period is set

The CRA assigns a default reporting period when you register, based on your annual taxable supplies (roughly, your taxable sales). The thresholds in its RC4022 guide are:

• $1,500,000 or less: annual, with the option to choose monthly or quarterly.
• More than $1,500,000, up to $6,000,000: quarterly, with the option to choose monthly.
• More than $6,000,000: monthly.

A business at or under $1,500,000 starts on annual reporting by default. Some choose to file more often, for example to match their bookkeeping cycle or to receive refunds sooner when they regularly claim more tax than they collect. Whether that suits you is a question for your own books.

The sole proprietor rule: June 15, but pay by April 30

The CRA's page sets out one exception that catches people. If you are an individual, your fiscal year ends December 31, and you had business income for income tax purposes that year, your annual GST/HST return isn't due until June 15. The money isn't on the same schedule: any balance owing is due April 30. If any one of those three conditions doesn't apply, the standard three-month deadline does.

For the 2026 year, that means a sole proprietor on a calendar year pays by April 30, 2027 and files by June 15, 2027. It mirrors the personal return, where self-employed people also file in June but pay in April.

Instalments for annual filers

Annual filing doesn't always mean one payment a year. The CRA's instalments page uses a $3,000 threshold: RC4022 says annual filers whose net tax was $3,000 or more in both the previous and the current fiscal year have to pay quarterly instalments, each due within one month after the end of a fiscal quarter. The annual return then settles up what's left.

Do you need to register at all?

Registration is required once you stop being a small supplier. RC4022 describes a small supplier as a person whose worldwide taxable supplies, together with those of associated persons, were $30,000 or less in a single calendar quarter and over the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Go over $30,000 in either test and you generally have to register. Public service bodies have a $50,000 threshold, and a few businesses, such as taxi and commercial ride-sharing services, must register regardless of size. Small suppliers can also register voluntarily.

Registration and a business number come first; our guide on incorporating in Ontario explains how the GST/HST (RT) account fits alongside the others.

The rate: 13% HST in Ontario

The CRA's rates table lists Ontario at 13% HST, with no separate PST. The rate you charge depends on where the supply is made, not where your business is located, so a business shipping to customers in other provinces may charge different rates on different sales. Some goods and services are zero-rated or exempt.

How to file a GST/HST return online

The CRA's how to file page says that for reporting periods beginning in 2024 or later, registrants must file electronically, with exceptions for charities and selected listed financial institutions, and that a penalty applies otherwise. The online options are:

1. Through your CRA account. Owners file in My Business Account; authorized representatives use Represent a Client. No access code is needed this way.
2. With GST/HST NETFILE. This is the CRA's online form for people filing outside a CRA account. Its NETFILE page says you need your business number, your four-digit GST/HST access code, and the start and end dates of the reporting period. A successful filing returns a six-digit confirmation number, which is worth saving.
3. Through accounting software that files directly with the CRA, which also uses the access code.
4. By TELEFILE (phone) or through a financial institution, where eligible.

Filing and paying are separate steps. Once a NETFILE return goes through, the CRA offers a link to pay any amount owing, or you can pay through the other CRA payment options. A return filed on time with the payment missing still leaves a balance that attracts interest.

Nil returns still have to be filed

A quiet period doesn't excuse the return. The CRA says you must file for every reporting period even with no business activity and nothing to remit. That is called a nil return. Missing one can hold up refunds for other periods and lead to a failure-to-file notice.

What the CRA says about late returns

The CRA's deadlines page says it can charge penalties and interest on returns or amounts it doesn't receive by the due date. RC4022 gives the late-filing penalty as 1% of the amount owing, plus 25% of that 1% for each complete month the return is late, up to 12 months. Interest is charged on overdue amounts at a rate the CRA adjusts each quarter. Paper filing by a business that must file electronically carries its own penalty. Whether relief is available in a particular case is a separate question with its own CRA process.

Getting help with HST in Hamilton and Stoney Creek

Infoetax provides monthly, quarterly and annual HST filing support from 537 Queenston Rd., close to the Stoney Creek line. That work usually sits on top of the bookkeeping it depends on, since the return is only as good as the sales and expense records behind it. More about the work is on our HST reporting page.

If a deadline is coming up and you'd like to go over your reporting period or your records, our team is in the office Monday to Friday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM at 905-393-7664, or you can send the details through the request form.