GST/HST important dates

On this page

• What is your date of registration?
• What are the deadlines for filing your return and paying any amount due?
• What is the time limit to claim your ITCs?
• How long should you keep your books and records?

When a due date falls on a Saturday, a Sunday, or a holiday recognized by the CRA, we consider your payment to be paid on time if we receive it on the next business day.

Financial institutions have unique reporting and remitting requirements for their GST/HST return. For complete information on those filing and reporting deadlines, see Which return do you complete?.

What is your date of registration?

Your effective date of registration for the GST/HST depends on whether your registration is mandatory or voluntary. You must begin to collect the GST/HST and may be eligible to claim input tax credits starting on that effective date. For more information, see Effective date of registration.

What are the deadlines for filing your return and paying any amount due?

The personalized GST/HST return (Form GST34-2) will show the due date at the top of the form as part of the pre-printed personal information. The due date of your return is determined by your reporting period.

Most GST/HST payments are due at the same time as your GST/HST returns.

If you are an annual filer you may have to pay equal quarterly instalments, which are due within one month after the end of each of your fiscal quarters.

You must file your return and make any payments on time. If you do not, we can charge penalties and interest on any returns or amounts we have not received by the due date.

For all details related to finding your account balance, how to make GST/HST remittances, or paying GST/HST by instalments, see Filing a GST/HST return and Paying the GST/HST (including instalment payments).

What is the time limit to claim your ITCs?

Registrants generally claim their input tax credits (ITCs) when they file their GST/HST return for the reporting period in which they made their purchases. However, you may have ITCs that you did not claim when you filed your return.

Most registrants can claim those ITCs in any future reporting period that is within four years of the reporting period in which the ITC could have first been claimed.

The time limit for claiming ITCs is reduced to two years for:

• listed financial institutions (other than a corporation that is considered to be a financial institution because it has an election in effect to have certain supplies deemed to be exempt financial services); and
• persons with annual revenues from taxable supplies of goods and services of more than $6 million for each of the two preceding fiscal years.

How long should you keep your books and records?

We use books and records to refer to various documents detailing your income and expenses. Usually, you have to keep all sales and purchase invoices and other records for your business operations and GST/HST for six years from the end of the year to which they relate. However, we may ask you to keep the invoices longer than six years.

For more information, see GST/HST Memoranda Series, Chapter 15 – Books and records.

Forms and publications

• Guide RC4022, General Information for GST/HST Registrants

• GST/HST Memoranda Series, Chapter 15 – Books and records

Date modified:

2014-10-31