Why isn't my store charging the full 13% HST on Canadian sales?

Accounting & Taxes

Topic summary

Merchants in Canada report orders charging only 5% GST instead of the expected 13% HST (e.g., Ontario). Some believe provinces like Ontario are missing from the tax setup list.

Key clarification:

  • Canada applies 5% GST nationally; some provinces use HST (GST + provincial portion), including Ontario.
  • In Shopify, only PST provinces (BC, Manitoba, Québec, Saskatchewan) appear separately. HST provinces don’t show because GST/HST is applied automatically once the region is added.

Suggested fixes/action:

  • Settings > Taxes and duties > Canada > Collect sales tax.
  • Add/ensure the specific region (e.g., Ontario) is selected and a tax number is entered if available.
  • If Ontario doesn’t appear, delete the existing Canada/Ontario tax configuration and re-add the region so HST auto-calculates.
  • Ensure “Enable taxes” is on; confirm regions where you’re registered.

Resources: Linked help docs on Canadian taxes and setup; screenshots provided (images central to the steps).

Current status:

  • Multiple users still seeing only 5% (including POS) and report no resolution via forum guidance.
  • Staff advise contacting authenticated Shopify Support for store-specific investigation. Discussion remains open/unresolved.
Summarized with AI on December 22. AI used: gpt-5.
13

Hey there, @kevinpang0524 . Thanks for taking the time to reach out to the Shopify Community Forums on this thread for some assistance with your tax situation! My name is Imogen. It’s good to meet you!

It’s difficult for us to troubleshoot tax questions here in the Community as we’re unable to authenticate users, meaning we can’t access your store to look at your current tax setup. Typically, issues with taxes not being collected is a result of the tax setup not being completed as it’s meant to be. As this thread is related to Canadian Taxes, I’ll link our Help Doc on the topic of Canadian Taxes here. We also have this resource here that talks about how to successfully set up your Canadian Tax settings. You’ll want to make sure that you have set up regions for the regions of Canada that you’re registered to collect taxes for. You can do so using the following steps (taken from the setting up Canadian Taxes help doc I linked above):

From the Shopify admin, go to Settings > Taxes and duties.

  1. In the Countries/regions section, click Canada.
  2. In the Sales tax section, click Collect sales tax.
  3. Select a region in which you are registered.
  4. In the Tax number box, enter your tax number. If you have applied for a tax number, but don’t have one yet, then leave this box blank. You can update it when you receive your number.
  5. Click Collect sales tax.
  6. Optional: To add more regions and account numbers, click Collect sales tax.

If you have appropriate created your regions and are still experiencing this issue, then please reach out to our Authenticated Support Team via our Help Center. This will allow us to get you authenticated, access your tax set up in real-time, and do some more in-depth troubleshooting than we can do here in the Community.