• You bought a qualifying item in a participating province that provides a provincial point‑of‑sale rebate for the qualifying item, you paid the provincial part of the HST and the registrant supplier did not credit you with the rebate of the provincial part of the HST due at the time of your purchase
• You brought a qualifying item into a participating province that provides a provincial point‑of‑sale rebate for the qualifying item and you have self‑assessed and remitted the provincial part of the HST at the applicable rate for the participating province

Qualifying items for the point-of-sale rebate

Province	Item
New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador	Books
Nova Scotia	Books, children’s clothing and footwear, and children’s diapers
Ontario	Books, children’s clothing and footwear, children’s diapers, children’s car seats, qualifying newspapers, and qualifying prepared food and beverages
Prince Edward Island	Books, children’s clothing and footwear, and qualifying heating oil

Books

Books eligible for the point-of-sale rebate include:

• A printed book or an update of a printed book
• An audio book, all or substantially all of which is a spoken reading of a printed book
• Composite property that consists of a printed book and a read-only medium (or a right to access a website under certain conditions), which is wrapped, packaged or prepared for sale as a single product under specific situations
• A bound or unbound printed version of a scripture of any religion

Non-eligible books for the point-of-sale rebate include:

• E-books
• Newspapers
• Magazines
• Catalogues
• Colouring books
• Agendas

In addition, the following items are not considered printed books:

• Newspapers
• Magazines or periodicals acquired otherwise than through a subscription or that has more than 5% of their printed space devoted to advertising
• Brochures or pamphlets
• Sales catalogues, price lists or advertising materials
• Warranty booklets or owner’s manuals
• Books designed primarily for writing on
• Colouring books or books designed primarily for drawing on or affixing thereto, or inserting therein, items such as clippings, pictures, coins, stamps, or stickers
• Cut-out books or press-out books
• Programs relating to an event or performance
• Agendas, calendars, syllabi, or timetables
• Directories, assemblages or charts or assemblages or street or road maps, but not including a guidebook or an atlas that consists in whole or in part of maps other than street or road maps
• Rate books
• Assemblages of blueprints, patterns, or stencils
• Assemblages or collections of, or items similar to, the above items

Learn more: GST/HST Memorandum 13-4, Rebates for Printed Books, Audio Recordings of Printed Books, and Printed Versions of Religious Scriptures.

Children’s clothing

The following goods are qualifying children’s clothing for the point‑of‑sale rebate:

• Clothing designed for babies (including baby bibs, bunting blankets, and receiving blankets)
• Clothing designed for children, up to and including girls’ Canada standard size 16 and boys’ Canada standard size 20, or clothing designed for girls and boys in sizes extra small, small, medium, or large if the clothing does not have a qualifying Canada standard size
• Hosiery or stretchy socks, hats, ties, scarves, belts, suspenders, mittens, and gloves in sizes and styles designed for children or babies

The following goods are not qualifying children’s clothing for the point‑of‑sale rebate:

• Adult‑sized garments even if purchased for a child
• Costumes
• Children’s garments of a class that is used exclusively in sports or recreational activities
• Children’s footwear and children’s diapers

Rebates are available on children’s footwear and children’s diapers if such goods qualify as such, respectively, for the purposes of those rebates.

Children’s footwear

Children's footwear designed for babies, girls and boys that have an insole length of 24.25 centimeters or less qualify for the point-of sale rebate. Qualifying children’s footwear does not include footwear that is used exclusively in sports or recreational activities (such as skates, rollerblades, ski boots or cleats).

Children’s diapers

Diapers, including cloth and disposable diapers, designed for babies and children, diaper inserts and liners, rubber pants, and training pants qualify for the point‑of‑sale rebate. Incontinence products are generally zero‑rated under the HST.

Children’s car seats

Children’s car seats and car booster seats that are restraint systems or booster cushions that conform to the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 213, 213.1, 213.2, and 213.5 under the federal Motor Vehicle Restraint Systems and Booster Seats Safety Regulations qualify for the point‑of‑sale rebate.

Qualifying newspapers

Print newspapers that contain news, editorials, feature stories, or other information of interest to the general public, and that are published at regular intervals, typically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, qualify for the point‑of‑sale rebate. Flyers, inserts, magazines, shoppers and periodicals do not qualify.

Qualifying prepared food and beverages

Qualifying prepared food or beverages that are ready for immediate consumption and that are sold for a total consideration of not more than $4.00, whether consumed on or off the premises where they are sold, qualify for the point-of-sale rebate.

Qualifying items include:

• Food or beverages heated for consumption
• Salads not canned or vacuum‑sealed
• Sandwiches and similar products other than when frozen
• Platters of cheese, cold cuts, fruits, or vegetables, and other arrangements of prepared food
• Cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, tarts, cookies, doughnuts, brownies, croissants with sweetened filling or coating, or similar products when they are not pre‑packaged for sale to consumers and are sold as single servings in quantities of less than six
• Ice cream, ice milk, sherbet, frozen yogurt or frozen pudding, non‑dairy substitutes for any of the foregoing, or any product that contains any of the foregoing sold in single servings and not pre‑packaged
• Other food items that are not zero‑rated as basic groceries solely by virtue of the types of sales made at the establishment where they are sold (for example, the sale of a bagel or a plain croissant in a restaurant)
• Non‑carbonated beverages, when dispensed at the place they are sold
• Any of the following beverages where the supply is not a zero‑rated supply:
  • Milk (flavoured or unflavoured)
  • Soy, rice or almond‑based beverages, or similar non‑dairy beverages that are substitutes for milk
  • Non‑carbonated fruit juice or fruit‑flavoured beverages, other than milk‑based beverages, that contain 25% or more by volume of a natural fruit juice or a combination of natural fruit juices, or a natural fruit juice or a combination of natural fruit juices that have been reconstituted into the original state
• Any of the following beverages when sold with qualifying food or beverages listed above and the supply of which is not a zero‑rated supply:
  • Carbonated beverages, when dispensed at the place they are sold
  • Other beverages (including carbonated beverages not listed above) when sold in a can, bottle, or other primary container that contains a quantity not exceeding a single serving and not sold in multiples, pre‑packaged by the manufacturer or producer, of single servings
• Any of the following food when supplied in combination with a qualifying food or beverage item listed above for a single consideration:
  • Cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, tarts, cookies, doughnuts, brownies, croissants with sweetened filling or coating, or similar products when they are pre‑packaged for sale to consumers in quantities of less than six items each of which is a single serving
  • Ice cream, ice milk, sherbet, frozen yogurt or frozen pudding, non‑dairy substitutes for any of the foregoing, or any product that contains any of the foregoing, when pre‑packaged and sold in single servings
  • Other snack foods, such as chips, salted nuts, popcorn, candies, fruit bars, and granola bars

Wine, spirits, beer, malt liquor, or other alcoholic beverages would not be qualifying beverages for the point-of-sale rebate.

Qualifying heating oil

Fuel that is suitable for use as heating oil qualifies for the point‑of‑sale rebate where it is marketed or sold as fuel for use as heating oil for heating homes, buildings, or similar structures. Heavy fuel oil, or fuel sold as fuel for use in internal combustion engines, does not qualify.

Example – Qualifying and non-qualifying items purchased together

After working late one night, Nicole stops by her local grocery store on her way home to pick up a few loaves of bread, cat litter, a roast beef sandwich for $2.95, and a 350 ml bottle of apple juice for $1.00.

For the purpose of determining if Nicole will be eligible for the Ontario HST point‑of‑sale rebate on the sandwich and the apple juice, the grocery store ignores the bread and the cat litter in calculating the $4.00 threshold. Since the sandwich plus the apple juice are sold for a total of $4.00 or less, the grocery store will automatically provide Nicole with the point‑of‑sale rebate, crediting the Ontario component of the HST and only collecting the 5% federal component of the HST on the sandwich and the apple juice.

The bread is a zero‑rated item for GST/HST purposes and the cat litter is subject to the full 13% HST.