ERP and accounting software for Alberta: GST, AT1, WCB

Alberta compliance in one view

An Alberta business charges 5% GST and no provincial sales tax, files its GST return with the CRA, files a separate Alberta corporate income tax return, the AT1, with Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration, remits payroll deductions to the CRA and pays WCB-Alberta premiums. It matters because Alberta's simplicity on sales tax is offset by its own corporate tax administration.

Alberta and the three territories are the Canadian jurisdictions that charge GST alone. The Government of Alberta counts the absence of a provincial sales tax and of a provincial payroll tax among the reasons Albertans and Alberta businesses pay less tax than they would under other provinces' systems; in Budget 2026 it measured that tax advantage at 16.9 billion dollars for 2026-27.

For the national system of thirteen jurisdictions, the T2 and T4 calendar and the IFRS or ASPE choice, see our Canada page. This page covers what is specific to Alberta.

• Sales tax: 5% GST only, administered by the CRA
• Corporate income tax: AT1 return with Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration (TRA)
• Tourism levy: 6% on accommodation booked from 1 April 2026
• Workplace insurance: WCB-Alberta
• Company law: auditor can be waived by special resolution

GST-only invoicing inside Alberta

Inside the province, tax on a taxable supply is one line. A Calgary wholesaler invoicing 1,000 dollars of goods delivered to a Red Deer customer charges 50 dollars of GST, 1,050 dollars in total. Its purchases are equally simple: the GST it pays on business inputs is recovered in full as an input tax credit, and there is no non-recoverable provincial tax to capitalise into equipment or expense.

The federal rules still apply in full. A business must register for GST once its worldwide taxable supplies, with associates, exceed 30,000 dollars over four consecutive calendar quarters, or in a single quarter. Its reporting period is annual, quarterly or monthly depending on its annual taxable supplies, and returns must be filed electronically for reporting periods beginning in 2024 or later. Invoices of 500 dollars or more to registered customers must carry the buyer's name, a description and payment terms, as well as the supplier's registration number, so the customer can support its input tax credit.

The practical risk in Alberta is assuming that 5% is always right. A system configured with one default tax will charge 5% on every invoice, including those where the place of supply is outside the province.

Selling from Alberta into the rest of Canada

Place of supply, not the seller's address, sets the rate. Goods are supplied where they are delivered, so an Edmonton distributor charges 13% HST on a shipment delivered to Toronto, 14% on one delivered to Halifax and 15% on one delivered to Moncton, and reports all of it on the same CRA return. On a 1,000 dollar order that means 50 dollars of tax delivered in Red Deer, 130 dollars delivered in Toronto and 150 dollars delivered in Moncton, all from the same Edmonton warehouse.

Provincial sales taxes outside the HST have their own reach. British Columbia requires businesses located outside B.C. that make sales to B.C. customers to consider registering for B.C. PST, and software used on devices ordinarily situated in B.C. is taxable there. Quebec's QST, Saskatchewan's PST and Manitoba's retail sales tax each have their own registration rules for out-of-province sellers.

For an Alberta company that ships nationally, this is the single biggest source of tax errors: the invoice must take its rate from the delivery address line by line, and the ledger must hold GST, HST and any provincial tax on separate accounts so that each return can be prepared without re-sorting invoices.

• Delivered in Alberta: 5% GST
• Delivered in Ontario: 13% HST
• Delivered in Nova Scotia: 14% HST
• Delivered in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador or Prince Edward Island: 15% HST
• Delivered in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Quebec: 5% GST plus that province's own sales tax rules

The AT1: Alberta's separate corporate tax return

Alberta is one of the provinces that collect their own corporate income tax. Every incorporated business with a permanent establishment in Alberta at any time in a taxation year pays Alberta tax on the portion of its taxable income allocated to Alberta, and unless exempt must file the Alberta corporate income tax return, the AT1, with Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration within six months of the end of its tax year. The AT1 is considered filed on the date TRA receives it. Each corporation is identified by its Alberta Corporate Account Number, the same number as the Corporate Access Number on its certificate of incorporation.

Electronic filing is now the default. A corporation whose taxation year begins after 31 December 2024 must file its AT1 and all schedules through Net File, using TRA-certified software, unless it is an insurance corporation, a non-resident corporation, a corporation reporting in a functional currency or a tax-exempt corporation. Failing to net file when required costs 1,000 dollars, and a paid tax preparer who prepares more than five AT1s a year faces a 100 dollar penalty for each AT1 not net filed.

Payment rules differ from the federal pattern in the detail. Alberta tax is generally paid in equal monthly instalments by the last day of each month of the taxation year, with the balance due by the end of the second month after year end. A Canadian-controlled private corporation is exempt from instalments and may pay its whole tax by the end of the third month after year end if it claims the Alberta small business deduction and has taxable income of 500,000 dollars or less in the current or preceding year, or if its Alberta tax is 2,000 dollars or less. Accounts are managed in TRA Client Self-Service, TRACS.

The tourism levy: 6% from April 2026

Alberta's tourism levy applies to the purchase price of temporary accommodation. As part of Budget 2026 the rate increased from 4% to 6% at 12:01 am on 1 April 2026. The 4% rate continues to apply to accommodation booked before 1 April 2026, and to stays supplied after that date at a set price under a contract executed on or before 23 March 2026. The 6% rate applies to accommodation booked after 31 March 2026.

Since 1 October 2024, any operator or online broker that collects payment for temporary accommodation in Alberta must register and collect, report and remit the levy. The levy does not apply to lodging continuously occupied by the same person for 28 days or more or, in most cases, to lodging provided by a registered charity. Purchasers such as the Government of Canada and listed diplomatic and consular representatives are exempt if they provide evidence of the exemption when the accommodation is purchased. Returns and payment are due within 28 days after the end of each monthly or quarterly collection period.

The transition is a live test of an invoicing system, because the rate depends on the booking date, not the stay date. A 600 dollar stay in Banff in July 2026 carries 36 dollars of levy at 6% if it was booked in April, but 24 dollars at 4% if it was booked in February. Alberta told operators and online brokers to change their billing systems for 1 April 2026, and a guest charged 6% instead of 4% can apply to TRA for a refund.

• Booked before 1 April 2026: 4%
• Fixed-price contract signed on or before 23 March 2026: 4%
• Booked after 31 March 2026: 6%
• Stays of 28 days or more by the same person: outside the levy

Payroll, WCB and company law

Payroll in Alberta runs through the CRA: federal and Alberta income tax, CPP and EI are deducted and remitted together on the employer's remittance schedule, and T4 slips are filed by the end of February. With no provincial payroll health tax, the main provincial employer cost is WCB-Alberta. For 2026 the average employer premium rate is 1.46 dollars per 100 dollars of assessable earnings, and each employer's own rate depends on its rate group and experience. At exactly the average rate, 750,000 dollars of assessable earnings would cost 750,000 / 100 x 1.46 = 10,950 dollars; a construction or oilfield services rate group will differ.

Alberta's Business Corporations Act is more flexible on audit than the federal statute. Under section 163, the shareholders of a corporation other than a reporting issuer may resolve by special resolution not to appoint an auditor, and the resolution is valid until the following annual meeting. The federal Act and Ontario's statute require every shareholder's consent for the same result. Lenders, investors and franchisors may still require reviewed or audited statements under their agreements.

Records follow the national rule: six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, kept in Canada unless the CRA permits otherwise. Because the AT1 is filed separately from the T2, the working papers that allocate taxable income to Alberta, and any Alberta tax credit claims, belong in the same year-end file.

Cities and regions: where the rules differ

Alberta's tax rules are province-wide. A business in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, St. Albert, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, Airdrie, Fort McMurray or Spruce Grove charges the same 5% GST, files the same AT1 and pays WCB premiums on the same basis. No Alberta city adds its own sales tax, and the tourism levy is a single provincial rate that applies in Banff and Jasper exactly as it does in downtown Calgary.

What differs by place is the customer's location, not the seller's. A Calgary firm that sells mostly to Alberta customers lives in a 5% world; the same firm with customers in Vancouver, Toronto and Halifax is managing four different tax outcomes from one warehouse. An Edmonton or Grande Prairie business that serves customers in neighbouring British Columbia and Saskatchewan meets exactly the provincial sales tax registration questions described above.

How Skyline Nexus ERP handles Alberta requirements

Skyline Nexus ERP is a cloud ERP with a double-entry general ledger under Fiscal Authority. The 5% GST rate is a single tax rate, and the rates an Alberta seller needs for deliveries elsewhere, such as 13% or 15% HST, or GST combined with another province's sales tax in a tax group of sub-taxes, can be set up alongside it and chosen on each sale line. When auto-posting is on, final sales, purchases, payments and expenses post balanced journals in the background, and the VAT Return screen prefills tax-exclusive bases and tax for a date range and location, ready for your bookkeeper to transfer to the CRA return.

Fiscal years can start in any month and use monthly or quarterly periods, which suits Alberta corporations whose AT1 and T2 deadlines run from a non-December year end. The year-end close posts closing entries to retained earnings and locks the year, and the Audit Pack exports a year of ledger reports to one Excel workbook for the accountant who prepares the T2 and AT1. For a hotel or short-stay operator, the tourism levy can be set up as its own tax rate; because the ledger's VAT settings name one output tax account, agree during set-up how the levy is kept apart from GST in the ledger.

Points to plan for. Canadian payroll, including CRA source deductions, T4 slips, Records of Employment and WCB reporting, is part of the Canadian roll-out rather than live today; until your go-live, run payroll in a Canadian payroll service and post its journal. Tax rates carry no effective-date history, so a change such as the tourism levy moving from 4% to 6% by booking date is handled by creating the new rate and applying it to bookings made from the change date.

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.