Bookkeeping services in Canada, province by province
Canada is one country and five different sales-tax situations. Your books are kept against the rules of the province you actually operate in, not a generic Canadian average.
AI Bookkeeping keeps double-entry books for small businesses anywhere in Canada, delivered online with no office visit. The 5% federal GST applies everywhere; the provincial layer differs, so HST, PST, QST or GST-only is recorded according to your province and your registration status. From $99 CAD a month, with a 15-day free trial.
The same service, read through your province
Answer first: nothing about the service changes when you cross a border. What changes is the sales tax underneath it, and that is what this page is about.
If you have not read what the service actually does, start with bookkeeping services: how documents become validated double-entry entries, what the human reviewer settles, and what each plan includes. This page assumes all of that and answers the narrower question of what it looks like in Ontario rather than Alberta. Pricing does not vary by province, and the plans are the same everywhere in the country.
One federal tax, four different provincial answers
Answer first: every registered business charges the 5% federal GST. On top of that, some provinces harmonize into a single HST, some add a separate provincial tax with its own registration, and Alberta adds nothing at all. Which one you are in decides how many returns you file and what you can claim back.
| Province | What applies | Who administers it | Recoverable on business purchases? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 13% HST, one combined line | CRA | Yes, the full amount, if you are registered |
| British Columbia | 5% GST plus 7% PST, charged separately | CRA for GST, the province for PST | The GST yes. The PST generally not, so it is a cost |
| Quebec | 5% GST plus 9.975% QST | Revenu Quebec administers both for most businesses | Generally yes for both, if you are registered |
| Alberta | 5% GST only, no provincial sales tax | CRA | Yes, if you are registered |
The rest of the country, in one paragraph
Three structures cover everywhere else. New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island use a harmonized HST like Ontario, at their own rates. Saskatchewan and Manitoba work like British Columbia: the federal GST plus a separate provincial tax with its own registration. Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are GST-only, like Alberta. Rates are deliberately not listed here because they move, and the CRA table linked above is always current.
This is general information about how the platform records transactions, not tax advice. Your registration status changes all of it, so confirm your own obligations with your accountant or the CRA.
The provincial mistakes that cost real money
These are the four that come up most in Canadian books, and every one of them is a rule rather than a judgment call, which is why software should catch them.
Treating BC's PST like a credit
The GST on a business purchase comes back to you. The 7% PST generally does not: it is part of the cost of the thing you bought. Booked as a recoverable credit it overstates what you can claim and understates your actual expense, and the correction lands at year-end when it is most expensive to unpick.
Collapsing GST and QST into one number
Quebec charges 5% GST and 9.975% QST, and they are separate taxes on separate lines even though Revenu Quebec administers both for most businesses. Added together into a single 14.975% figure, the two cannot be reported separately when the filing is due.
Assuming Alberta means no sales tax at all
Alberta has no provincial sales tax, which is not the same as no sales tax. The 5% federal GST still applies, registration thresholds still apply, and returns are still due. An Alberta business that records nothing is not simplifying, it is missing the federal half.
Charging your own province's rate to an out-of-province customer
Which rate applies generally follows where the customer is, not where you are. A Calgary business invoicing a client in Toronto is not automatically in 5% territory. This is the one on the list where the answer genuinely depends on the specifics, so it is also the one most worth asking your accountant about.
The cities we work in most, and the province each one sits in
We work with businesses across Canada and the United States. These five come up most often, and they fall into four different tax situations, which is the whole point of the section above.
Bookkeeping services in Toronto
Ontario · HST, one combined rate
One 13% HST line, CRA-administered, and the full amount generally recoverable if you are registered. Ontario is the simplest of the four to record, which is exactly why unclaimed credits here do not look like an error. They look like nothing at all.
Bookkeeping services in Vancouver
British Columbia · GST plus PST, two taxes
Two taxes, two registrations, and the harder distinction of the four: the GST comes back, the 7% PST usually does not. Getting that split right on every purchase is most of the bookkeeping work in a BC business.
Montreal, Quebec
GST at 5% and QST at 9.975%, with Revenu Quebec administering both for most businesses rather than the CRA. Different filing relationship, different portal, same requirement that the two taxes stay separate in your records.
Bookkeeping services in Calgary and Edmonton
Alberta · GST only, no provincial sales tax
The two share a province and therefore a tax situation: 5% GST, no provincial sales tax, one federal return. They are the only pair on this list where the bookkeeping is genuinely identical, which is why they are treated together here.
Not in one of these? Nothing changes. The service is delivered online everywhere in Canada, the price is the same, and the province is a setting rather than a limitation.
The same price in every province
The Bookkeeping Service starts at $99 CAD a month on Starter, $199 on Growth and $399 on Pro, covering up to 150, 250 and 500 documents. Your province does not change the price. Every plan includes AI processing, rule validation, human review when it is needed, reports, sales-tax figures and accountant access.
The full breakdown of what each plan covers is on the bookkeeping services page, and both products sit side by side on pricing. Prices in CAD; taxes may apply.
Questions Canadian owners ask
Anything not here, email support and a person answers.
Do you file my GST/HST return?
No. We keep the records and produce the figures the filing is built from, including tax collected and credits claimable for the period. The return itself is filed by you or your accountant. Nothing here is tax advice.
What if I am not registered for GST/HST?
Then you do not charge it and you claim no input tax credits, and the books are recorded that way rather than assuming otherwise. Your registration status is a setting, not a guess. If you are close to the registration threshold, that is a conversation for your accountant.
Do you handle Quebec's QST and Revenu Quebec?
Yes. QST is recorded as its own tax alongside the federal GST rather than merged into one figure, which is what keeps the two reportable separately when the filing is due. Revenu Quebec administers both for most Quebec businesses, and that does not change how the records are kept.
I sell to customers in other provinces. Which rate applies?
Generally the rate follows where your customer is rather than where you are, so a single business can charge several different rates in one month. That is recorded per transaction. The rules here have real edge cases, so confirm your own situation with your accountant.
Is British Columbia's PST recoverable?
Generally not. Unlike the GST, PST paid on business purchases is usually a cost rather than a credit, so it belongs in the expense rather than in a recoverable tax account. This is the most common provincial error we see, and it is recorded correctly by rule rather than by judgment.
Do you only work with businesses in those five cities?
No. Those are the cities that come up most often, and each one has its own page because the province genuinely changes the bookkeeping. The service itself is available everywhere in Canada and the United States, at the same price.
Start wherever you are in Canada
Fifteen days free, no credit card, no obligation. Set your province once and send a month of documents to see how they come back.
No credit card required.