How Etsy handles GST/HST for registered sellers

Before you register: Etsy collects

Since July 1, 2022, Etsy has collected GST/HST on orders from Canadian buyers. If you sell physical goods from Canada and haven't given Etsy a GST/HST number, Etsy adds the tax to the buyer's total at the last step of checkout and remits it itself.

The Excise Tax Act treats those sales as made by Etsy, not by you. That's why you don't report them on a GST/HST return. There's one exception that matters: they still count as your sales for the $30,000 small supplier test. A busy shop can cross the limit while Etsy is doing all the collecting.

After you register: you collect

Once your GST/HST number is saved on Etsy, Etsy stops collecting GST/HST from Canadian buyers on physical goods. Etsy's own wording is that you “should adjust your listing prices to collect any required taxes, then remit it” with your GST/HST filing.

In practice that means your listing price is tax-included. A $25.00 listing shipped to Ontario contains $2.88 of HST, and you keep $22.12. Shipped to Alberta, the same $25.00 contains $1.19 of GST. The rate follows where the order ships, not where you live.

Adding your number to Etsy

In Shop Manager, go to Finances, then Legal and tax information. Enter your number under Canadian Taxpayer IDs and submit it. GST/HST and QST have separate fields, and a GST/HST number in the QST field gives an error.

Add it as soon as your registration takes effect. Until you do, Etsy keeps collecting, and if you've also built tax into your prices, buyers pay tax twice.

What Etsy still collects after you register

• PST on orders to British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and RST on orders to Manitoba.
• QST on orders to Quebec, unless you also add a QST number.
• GST/HST on its own fees to you. The fees guide covers how to claim that back.

The provincial taxes aren't part of your GST/HST return, and this site doesn't cover them.

The double-tax mistake

The most common error is reporting tax that Etsy already sent to the CRA. If Etsy collected GST/HST on an order, leave that order's tax off line 103 of your return. Etsy's Orders CSV shows which sales Etsy reported, under Shop Manager, Settings, Options, Download Data.

The awkward case is a gap between your registration date and the day you added your number to Etsy. Etsy collected on those orders, but you were already registered. Neither the CRA nor Etsy spells out how to handle that, so it's worth a call to the CRA or an accountant before you file.

Orders shipped outside Canada

Goods you mail or courier to an address outside Canada are zero-rated. You charge no GST/HST on them, but they still go in your total sales on the return.

Not sure whether you need to register yet? The registration checker adds up your last four quarters against the $30,000 limit.