Amazon sellers in Canada deal with GST/HST in four places: the tax Amazon collects on some of your sales, the tax you collect yourself once you’re registered, the tax sitting inside your Amazon fees, and the return where it all gets reported to CRA. Which of those jobs are yours comes down almost entirely to one question: is your own GST/HST registration on file with Amazon or not?
This guide is the overview. Each section links to a deeper guide on that piece, so you can go as far into the weeds as your situation needs.
What Amazon collects and remits for you
Since July 1, 2021, Canada’s marketplace rules have made Amazon responsible for GST/HST on Amazon.ca sales made by sellers who aren’t registered. Amazon charges the buyer the rate for the delivery province, 5% GST in some provinces and 13% to 15% HST in others, and remits it straight to CRA. That tax never lands in your payout, and it isn’t yours to report.
If you’re registered, the job flips. Amazon steps back on those sales and the GST/HST comes through to you to remit on your own return. Our guide on whether Amazon collects and pays sales tax for sellers covers the mechanics in both directions, and there’s a short answer to whether Amazon needs your GST number on file if that’s the only question you came with.
When you need your own GST/HST number
You don’t need a GST/HST number to start selling on Amazon.ca. Registration becomes mandatory once you pass $30,000 in taxable sales over four consecutive calendar quarters, or in a single quarter if things take off fast, and CRA expects you to register within 29 days of crossing the line.
The threshold counts every channel you sell on, Amazon included.
Shopify orders, eBay sales, craft fairs and wholesale all stack toward the same $30,000. Sellers who watch only their Amazon dashboard routinely blow past it without noticing, and a late registration means CRA can treat sales after that date as taxable even though you never charged the buyer a cent of tax. That shortfall comes out of your margin. The Amazon GST number guide covers what the number changes on Amazon specifically.
The GST/HST inside your Amazon fees
Amazon also bills GST/HST on its own seller fees, referral and FBA fees included.
If you’re registered, that fee tax is generally recoverable as an input tax credit, which is real money at Amazon volumes. If you’re not registered, it’s simply part of your cost. And when Amazon adjusts fees after the fact, it issues GST credit notes that reduce the credits you can claim, which is where a lot of do-it-yourself bookkeeping quietly goes wrong.
Here’s the trap we see most: sellers work from payout deposits instead of the tax reports, and either overclaim credits or leave them unclaimed. The guides on input tax credits for Amazon sellers and Amazon GST credit notes cover both sides of that problem.
PST and QST are a separate layer
British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec run their own retail taxes on top of the federal system, each with its own marketplace rules. On Amazon.ca orders into those provinces, Amazon generally collects and remits the PST or QST itself. In your seller reports it shows up under labels like “Marketplace Collected Tax” or “Amazon obligated tax withheld”.
That money is already with the province. Reporting it again on a provincial return means paying the same tax twice, and unwinding exactly that is a cleanup job we’ve done more than once. The details are in our guide to Amazon and PST/QST.
Where it all lands: your GST/HST return
If you’re registered, you still file your own GST/HST return: the tax you collected on your sales, less the input tax credits you’re entitled to. The hard part isn’t the form, it’s the reconciliation. Amazon’s reports split your sales between tax Amazon remitted and tax that’s yours, and neither figure matches the deposits in your bank feed. Sellers who file from bank deposits are the ones who end up remitting tax Amazon already sent, missing credits, or explaining the gap to a CRA reviewer.
That reconciliation, done every filing period from the right reports, is the core of what we do for Amazon sellers.
Frequently asked questions
Does Amazon handle all my GST/HST for me?
Only if you’re not registered, and only on the sales themselves. The tax on your fees and the provincial tax layers are still your side of the ledger.
Do I need a GST/HST number to sell on Amazon.ca?
Not to start. Registration becomes mandatory once your taxable sales pass $30,000 across four consecutive calendar quarters, or in a single quarter, counting all your sales channels together.
Is there GST/HST on Amazon seller fees?
Yes. Amazon bills GST/HST on its seller fees, and registered sellers can generally recover it through input tax credits. Unregistered sellers can’t, so it stays a cost.
Who remits PST and QST on my Amazon sales?
In BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, Amazon generally collects and remits those provincial taxes on marketplace orders. They appear in your reports as marketplace-collected tax and shouldn’t be remitted a second time.
Related guides
- Does Amazon Collect and Pay Sales Tax (GST) for Sellers on Amazon Canada?
- Amazon GST Number: What It Is and Where Sellers Find It
- Amazon GST Credit Notes: Why Amazon Withholds GST and What to Do
- Input Tax Credits for Amazon Canada Sellers
- GST/HST Services for E-Commerce Sellers
Not sure where you stand?
If you can’t say with confidence which parts of your Amazon tax picture Amazon handles and which parts are yours, that’s exactly the conversation we have with sellers every week. Get in touch and we’ll map it out for your setup.
Related guides
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We work with e-commerce and owner-managed businesses across Canada and beyond: GST/HST and provincial sales tax, corporate structure, income splitting, and non-resident compliance. Tell us your situation and we will tell you exactly what you need.
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