Canada
ERP and accounting software for Canada — GST, HST, QST and bilingual invoicing
No e-invoicing mandate in Canada — the hard part is place-of-supply tax across thirteen jurisdictions, dual CRA and Revenu Québec filing, and French invoices under Quebec law.
Compliance summary
Not mandated- Tax authority
- Canada Revenue Agency (CRA); Revenu Québec for Quebec businesses
- E-invoicing
- Not mandated — no federal or provincial B2B requirement, and none announced
- VAT rate
- 5% + provincial
- Currency
- CAD
Last reviewed . Rates and deadlines change — confirm the current position with the authority above before you act on it.
What your invoice must carry
What Canadian invoicing actually has to get right
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Tax by the customer's province
One sale can be 5% GST, 13% HST, or GST plus 9.975% QST as two separate lines with separately recoverable credits. The rate follows the buyer, not the seller.
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Two authorities, two returns
GST34 to the CRA, but Quebec-resident businesses file FPZ-500 for GST and QST to Revenu Québec instead — different forms, different bodies.
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French invoices under Bill 96
Invoices, receipts, quotes and purchase orders must be available in French at least as prominently as any other language, with daily penalties for non-compliance. This needs bilingual invoice templates, not a translated menu.
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Payroll across two agencies
CRA source deductions with assigned remittance frequency and T4 filing, plus the Record of Employment to Service Canada within days of an interruption of earnings.
We are not going to invent a deadline
Canada has no business-to-business e-invoicing mandate. Not federally, not provincially, and none announced. Federal government e-invoicing exists as a voluntary supplier capability, and Canada participates in Peppol without a national authority.
Any vendor telling a Canadian business it must buy software this quarter to stay compliant with an e-invoicing rule is describing a country other than Canada. The reason to change systems here is operational, and it is a good enough reason on its own.
Place of supply is the actual difficulty
Thirteen jurisdictions, three tax models — HST provinces with one blended rate, GST plus a separate provincial tax, and GST-only territories — and a Quebec regime with its own authority and its own recoverable credit.
Getting this wrong is not a rounding error; it is charging the wrong tax to the wrong customer and discovering it during an audit. The tax follows the place of supply as a rule, with GST and QST posted as separate lines with separate input credits.
Bilingual is a legal requirement, not a nicety
Quebec's language legislation puts real penalties behind French-language commercial documents. A system that can produce a French invoice as easily as an English one is not a preference in Quebec — it is the difference between compliant and not.
This system was built bidirectionally for Arabic and English, which means the document layer was designed for two languages from the start rather than retrofitted for one.
Common questions
Is e-invoicing mandatory in Canada?
No. Canada has no business-to-business e-invoicing mandate — not federally, not provincially, and none announced. Federal government e-invoicing exists as a voluntary supplier capability, and Canada participates in Peppol without a national authority. Any vendor telling a Canadian business it must buy software this quarter to stay compliant with an e-invoicing rule is describing a country other than Canada.
What makes Canadian sales tax difficult?
Place of supply across thirteen jurisdictions and three tax models: HST provinces with one blended rate, GST plus a separate provincial tax, and GST-only territories. One sale can be 5% GST, 13% HST, or GST plus 9.975% QST as two separate lines with separately recoverable credits — and the rate follows the buyer, not the seller.
Do Quebec businesses file differently?
Yes. GST34 goes to the Canada Revenue Agency, but Quebec-resident businesses file FPZ-500 for both GST and QST to Revenu Québec instead. Different forms, different bodies, from the same underlying transactions.
Do we have to issue invoices in French in Quebec?
Under Bill 96, invoices, receipts, quotes and purchase orders must be available in French at least as prominently as any other language, with daily penalties for non-compliance. That needs genuine bilingual invoice templates, not a translated menu over an English document.
What does Canadian payroll require of a system?
CRA source deductions with the remittance frequency assigned to you and T4 filing, plus the Record of Employment to Service Canada within days of an interruption of earnings. Payroll therefore reports to two agencies on two calendars.
Rates, regimes and deadlines in this summary change, and many countries are actively legislating on e-invoicing. This is general information, not tax or legal advice — confirm the current position with the authority named above or with your tax adviser before you rely on it.
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