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How GST, HST, PST, and QST apply to flooring sales and installation across Canada. Province-by-province rates, invoicing rules, and where contractors get it wrong.
Flooring Sales Tax in Canada: GST, HST, PST & QST Rates and Rule
A flooring contractor based in Ottawa takes a job installing hardwood in a home just across the river in Gatineau, Quebec. If the invoice goes out with Ontario's 13% HST on it, it's wrong, and not by a small margin. The job should carry Quebec's 5% GST plus 9.975% QST, because the tax follows the property being worked on, not the province the contractor calls home. It's a small geographic detail with a real compliance cost attached, and it's one of several places where flooring businesses operating in more than one province quietly get their sales tax wrong.
Canada doesn't run one sales tax system, it runs four, layered differently depending on the province. For a flooring retailer or contractor doing supply-and-install work, getting this right on every quote matters more than it might seem, both for compliance and for not shortchanging your own margin.
GST, HST, PST and QST: The Basics Flooring Businesses Need to Know
At the federal level, every taxable sale in Canada carries a 5% Goods and Services Tax (GST), collected by the CRA. What changes province to province is what sits on top of that 5%.
Five provinces have folded their provincial tax into the federal one, creating a single combined rate called the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST): Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. HST shows up as one line on an invoice and one number on the receipt, which makes it the simplest structure to work with. For services tied to real property, which covers most flooring installation work, the
CRA's place of supply rules determine which of these rates actually applies, based on where the property is located rather than where the business is registered.
Three provinces keep their provincial sales tax separate from the federal GST: British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. In these provinces, GST and the provincial tax (PST in BC and Saskatchewan, RST in Manitoba) are calculated and shown as two distinct amounts, and the provincial portion generally can't be recovered as an input tax credit the way GST can.
Quebec runs its own version again. GST applies at the federal 5%, and Quebec's own Quebec Sales Tax (QST) applies at 9.975% on top, administered by Revenu Québec rather than the CRA. Unlike BC or Saskatchewan's PST, QST is recoverable by registered businesses, just through a separate mechanism called an Input Tax Refund rather than the federal input tax credit system.
Then there are the no-PST regions: Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut charge the 5% GST only, with no provincial layer at all.
Which Provinces Use What: A Quick Reference
| Province/Territory | Tax Type | Rate | Combined Rate |
|---|
| Ontario | HST | 13% | 13% |
| Nova Scotia | HST | 14% (since April 1, 2025) | 14% |
| New Brunswick | HST | 15% | 15% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | HST | 15% | 15% |
| Prince Edward Island | HST | 15% | 15% |
| British Columbia | GST + PST | 5% + 7% | 12% |
| Saskatchewan | GST + PST | 5% + 6% | 11% |
| Manitoba | GST + RST | 5% + 7% | 12% |
| Quebec | GST + QST | 5% + 9.975% | 14.975% |
| Alberta | GST only | 5% | 5% |
| Yukon | GST only | 5% | 5% |
| Northwest Territories | GST only | 5% | 5% |
| Nunavut | GST only | 5% | 5% |
Nova Scotia's rate is worth flagging specifically: it dropped from 15% to 14% on April 1, 2025, and a fair amount of content published before that date still shows the old figure.
Calculating Tax on Materials vs Installation Labour
A supply-and-install flooring job, where you sell the flooring and install it as part of the same contract, is generally treated as one combined supply for tax purposes rather than two separately taxed pieces. That means the applicable rate applies to the full job value, materials and labour together, whichever tax structure governs the province the work is happening in.
In an HST province, that's straightforward: one rate, applied once, to the total. A $10,000 supply-and-install job in Ontario carries $1,300 in HST, full stop.
In a GST plus PST province, the math has an extra step. GST applies to the full amount, and the provincial portion applies as well, but the two are calculated independently rather than compounding on each other. A $10,000 job in British Columbia carries $500 GST plus $700 PST, shown as two separate lines rather than blended into one.
Quebec adds its own wrinkle. QST is calculated on the amount before GST is added, not on the GST-inclusive total, so there's no tax-on-tax. A $10,000 job in Quebec carries $500 GST and $997.50 QST, both calculated off the same $10,000 base.
Common Tax Mistakes Flooring Contractors Make Across Provinces
A handful of errors show up repeatedly among flooring businesses working across more than one province, or even near a provincial border:
Charging the tax rate for the contractor's home province instead of the rate for where the job actually is. The general rule for services connected to real property, which covers most flooring installation, is that the place of supply is where the property is located, not where the business is registered.
Confusing PST and QST as interchangeable. They're structurally different: Quebec's QST is recoverable through Revenu Québec, while BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba's provincial tax generally isn't recoverable at all. Treating them the same way in bookkeeping understates real job costs in the PST provinces.
Getting the QST calculation order wrong, applying it to the GST-inclusive total instead of the pre-GST amount, which overcharges the customer and creates a reconciliation headache later.
Assuming a flooring business operating only in Alberta or the territories never has to think about provincial tax on a job done elsewhere, then getting caught out the first time a crew crosses into Saskatchewan or BC for an install.
Using outdated invoice thresholds. A lot of published guidance still references the old $30 and $150 documentation tiers, which the CRA replaced with $100 and $500 back in 2021.
What Needs to Be on a Compliant Flooring Invoice in Canada
The CRA's current documentation requirements scale with the size of the sale. For a taxable supply under $100 including tax, an invoice needs the supplier's name, the date, and the total amount, along with an indication that tax was charged and at what rate.
Between $100 and $499.99, the invoice also needs the supplier's GST/HST registration number, and either the tax amount shown separately or a clear statement that the price includes tax at the applicable rate. Most flooring jobs land well above this range, so this tier is worth knowing but rarely the ceiling.
For $500 or more, which covers nearly every flooring install, the invoice also needs the buyer's name, a description of the work supplied in enough detail to identify it, and the payment terms. In an HST province, this is one tax line. In a GST plus PST province, GST and the provincial tax need to appear as two separate amounts, not folded into a single figure. In Quebec, GST and QST also show separately, and Quebec's Bill 96 requires that French appear at least as prominently as English on commercial documents, invoices included, if the business operates there.
A missing registration number or an unclear description is one of the most common reasons a commercial client's input tax credit claim gets denied on audit, and it's usually the flooring business that fields the awkward follow-up call.
How Automating Tax Calculation Removes the Province-by-Province Guesswork
Working out which of four tax structures applies, at which rate, calculated in which order, on every single quote is exactly the kind of task that's simple in theory and error-prone in practice, especially for a flooring business that serves customers near a provincial border or takes on commercial jobs that span more than one province.
HomeArize's
fast quoting feature applies the correct tax structure to a quote based on where the job is actually located, whether that means a single HST line, GST plus PST shown separately, or GST plus QST calculated the way Revenu Québec expects. It's built into the broader
flooring software platform, so quotes convert into compliant invoices with the right tax breakdown already in place, no manual recalculation required when a job happens to fall in a different province than the one your showroom is based in.
Pairing accurate quoting with accurate measurement matters here too. If you're generating estimates from takeoffs or floor plans,
flooring estimating software that gets the material quantities right feeds directly into a tax calculation that's only as accurate as the number it's applied to. If you'd rather see the whole flow end to end, you can
book a demo and walk through a real cross-province quote.
Canadian sales tax on flooring work isn't complicated once you separate the two questions that actually matter: which structure applies where the job is happening, and whether that structure treats materials and labour as one supply or two. Get the province right, get the calculation order right for that province, and put the correct fields on the invoice, and the rest is just consistency.
This guide reflects current CRA and Revenu Québec rules at the time of writing and is general information, not a substitute for advice from an accountant or tax professional familiar with your specific business and the provinces you operate in.
Highlights
- Canada runs four different sales tax structures depending on province: HST alone, GST plus PST, GST plus QST, or GST alone, and a flooring job is taxed differently under each.
- The tax rate that applies is based on where the flooring is installed, not where your business is registered, which catches out contractors working near provincial borders.
- CRA invoice requirements changed in 2021 to $100 and $500 thresholds, and a lot of guidance still circulating online quotes the outdated $30 and $150 figures.
FAQs
Do I charge GST or HST on flooring installation?
It depends on where the job is located, not where your business is based. HST applies as a single rate in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and PEI. Everywhere else, GST applies at 5%, combined with provincial tax where applicable.
How is QST calculated on a flooring installation in Quebec?
QST is calculated at 9.975% on the amount before GST is added, not on the GST-inclusive total. A $10,000 job carries $500 GST and $997.50 QST, both based on the original $10,000, with no tax compounding on tax.
Do BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba charge tax on flooring installation the same way?
All three charge the 5% federal GST plus their own provincial tax (7% PST in BC, 6% PST in Saskatchewan, 7% RST in Manitoba), shown as separate line items rather than one combined rate, and generally not recoverable as an input tax credit the way GST is.
What has to appear on a Canadian flooring contractor's tax invoice?
For jobs of $500 or more, which covers most flooring installs, the invoice needs the supplier's name and GST/HST number, the date, a description of the work, the buyer's name, payment terms, and the tax amount or rate clearly shown. These thresholds were updated from $30/$150 to $100/$500 in 2021.
Which province's tax rate applies if my business is in one province but the job is in another?
The tax rate follows where the property being worked on is located, not where the flooring business is registered. A contractor based in a low-tax province still has to charge the correct rate for wherever the installation actually happens.
Is there a flooring sales tax calculator for all Canadian provinces?
The CRA publishes an official GST/HST rate calculator covering every province, and it's the most reliable reference for confirming the correct federal rate. For jobs involving separate provincial tax (BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) or QST (Quebec), you'll also need to check the relevant provincial or Revenu Québec rate, since the CRA's tool covers the federal portion only.
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Flooring GST HST CalculationFlooring Sales Tax CanadaGST HST Flooring InstallationFlooring Tax Invoice CanadaFlooring Software Canada
