You need your own GST/HST number for your Shopify store once your taxable sales pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or in any single quarter. Until you register and enter that number, Shopify charges your Canadian customers nothing, and no one else steps in to collect for you. This catches a lot of store owners off guard, because the marketplaces they also sell on handle tax automatically. Your own store works differently.
Shopify is not a marketplace, so nobody collects tax for you
Since July 1, 2021, marketplace platforms like Amazon and Etsy have been required to collect and remit GST/HST on sales made by sellers who are not registered. That rule does not apply to your Shopify store. A Shopify store is your own storefront, every sale on it is your sale, and the CRA looks straight at you for the tax.
Shopify’s role is calculation only. Once you are registered and your number is in the store’s tax settings, checkout adds the correct tax to each order. Shopify never registers you, never files a return, and never sends a dollar to the CRA on your behalf. The tax lands in your payouts mixed in with your revenue, and remitting it is entirely your responsibility.
The $30,000 threshold: when a number stops being optional
The CRA’s small supplier test looks at your total taxable sales over the last four consecutive calendar quarters, and at each single quarter on its own. Two parts of it trip up Shopify sellers:
- It counts every channel. Shopify sales get added to marketplace sales, in-person markets, and anything else taxable. Passing $30,000 across the combination triggers registration even if no single channel comes close.
- Crossing it in one quarter has immediate effect. Blow through $30,000 inside a single calendar quarter and the sale that puts you over is already taxable. In the slower four-quarter case you get a short grace window, and either way you have 29 days to register once you stop being a small supplier.
Miss the deadline and the CRA can register you retroactively. Sales after your true effective date are treated as tax-included, so the GST/HST you never charged comes out of your margin, with penalties and interest on top. On $100,000 of missed sales in an HST province, that is five figures gone.
What a GST number actually changes inside your store
Registration flips two switches. With the CRA, you are now required to charge GST/HST on every taxable sale and remit what you collect on your returns. Inside Shopify, entering your registration number in the store’s tax settings is what turns collection on, and the rate each customer sees depends on their province, from 5% GST up to 15% HST.
The two failure modes we clean up most often are mirror images of each other. Some owners register with the CRA and never update Shopify, so months of sales go out with no tax collected while the filing obligation quietly builds. Others turn tax collection on without being registered, which is not allowed, since only registrants can charge GST/HST. Both usually surface at year-end, and both are expensive to unwind.
Registering before $30,000 can be worth it
Voluntary registration is allowed at any sales level, and for some stores it pays. Registrants can claim input tax credits to recover the GST/HST they pay on business purchases, and a Shopify store pays that tax constantly: on subscription and transaction fees, apps, packaging, and inventory inputs. If your customers are mostly businesses that recover the tax themselves, charging it costs you nothing competitively.
The trade-off is real filing obligations from day one, and consumer buyers see prices go up by the tax. For a small store selling to the public, waiting until the threshold usually makes more sense. It is a judgment call worth making deliberately rather than by default.
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify remit GST/HST to the CRA for me?
No. Shopify calculates and adds tax at checkout once your registration number is entered, but the money arrives in your payouts and you file and remit it yourself. Marketplace collection rules cover platforms like Amazon and Etsy, not your own Shopify store.
Does the $30,000 threshold count only my Shopify sales?
No. It counts your total taxable sales across every channel you sell on, including marketplaces and in-person sales. If the combined total passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters or in a single quarter, registration is required.
Can I charge GST/HST on Shopify without a number?
No. Only registrants are allowed to charge GST/HST. If your store has been adding tax without a registration in place, that needs fixing quickly, because the CRA takes issue in both directions: charging without registration, and not charging once registered.
Is a GST number different from an HST number?
No. One registration covers both. Whether an order gets 5% GST or up to 15% HST depends on the customer’s province, not on the type of number you hold. Our guide to GST vs HST for Shopify sellers covers the current rate for every province.
Related guides
- Shopify GST/HST for Canadian sellers: the full decision tree
- GST vs HST for Shopify sellers: rates by province
- Shopify Tax vs Basic Tax: what the fee buys Canadian stores
- Shopify and provincial sales tax: BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec
- Our GST/HST registration and filing service
Not sure if your store should be registered?
We register Shopify sellers at the right effective date, set the store up to collect correctly, and file the returns so the tax in your payouts actually reaches the CRA. Contact us and we will review where your store stands before the CRA decides for you.
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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