GST/HST on Membership Renewals: What Canadian Communities Must Charge

What to take away

A community that is a small supplier generally does not have to register, but registration becomes mandatory once taxable revenue passes the $30,000 threshold in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters.
GST/HST is charged on the renewal based on the place of supply, which for most memberships follows the member's address, not the community's office.
A compliant renewal invoice shows the supplier's name, the GST/HST registration number, the rate charged, and the tax amount separately.
Records supporting each renewal must be kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to.
Failure to charge and remit when required means the community owes the tax out of its own funds, plus interest and penalties.

Who has jurisdiction over a renewal

The Canada Revenue Agency administers the Goods and Services Tax and the Harmonized Sales Tax under the Excise Tax Act. That statute defines which supplies are taxable and how the place of supply is determined.

A membership in a club, association or organisation is generally treated as a supply of a service. That matters because services are taxed where the recipient is located, not where the seller sits. A community registered in Ontario that renews a member in Alberta applies the rules for Alberta.

The CRA publishes two documents a community should keep on hand: the current rate guidance on which rate to charge and GST/HST Memorandum 3-3 on place of supply. Both are updated periodically, so check the CRA's GST/HST rates page before the next billing cycle.

Registration is not optional once taxable revenue passes $30,000. A small supplier stays under the limit, but the moment taxable revenue exceeds it in a single calendar quarter, or across four consecutive quarters, registration is required.

What a compliant renewal disclosure contains

A renewal is a taxable supply, and the invoice or receipt behind it has to carry specific information. The community's legal name, the operating name if different, and the GST/HST registration number are the core items.

Renewal Receipt Requirements

Supplier legal name and operating name
GST/HST registration number
Date of supply and description
Rate applied and tax shown separately
Total charged to the member

The document also needs the date, a description of the supply, the total before tax, the rate applied, the tax amount shown separately, and the total charged. If the member is in a participating province, the HST rate for that province applies.

Where a community bills monthly, the same information appears on every renewal receipt. Sending a single annual summary instead does not meet the requirement for each supply.

A renewal receipt that shows one blended figure and no registration number is the most common defect the CRA finds on audit, and it is the easiest to fix before the next cycle.

Supplier legal name and operating name
GST/HST registration number
Date of the supply and description
Rate applied and tax shown separately
Total charged to the member

Records to keep

Every renewal generates a record. Keep the invoice or receipt issued, the payment record, the member's billing address used to determine the place of supply, and any credit or refund applied.

Retention is six years from the end of the tax year to which the record relates. A community that renews members on a rolling monthly basis should organise records by tax year, not by member, so a review can be answered quickly.

Bank statements, processor statements and the reconciliation between them are part of the same set. The CRA can ask for the working papers that connect a deposit to a specific renewal.

What happens if you do not charge it

If a community should have charged GST/HST on renewals and did not, the tax is still owed. The community pays it from its own revenue, because the member was never billed for it.

Interest runs from the day the amount was due. Penalties apply separately, and repeated failures across several reporting periods compound the exposure. A community that discovers the gap can correct it through a voluntary disclosure, which may reduce penalties but does not erase the tax.

This is the concrete consequence: the shortfall comes out of the community's own funds, not the member's. For a community with thin margins, a multi-year gap on renewals is a solvency question, not a paperwork one.

The same discipline that keeps membership community bookkeeping and cash flow basics in order applies here, because tax collected is never the community's money.

Where the rules differ by place

Five provinces have harmonised their sales tax with the federal GST: Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. In those provinces a single HST rate applies to the renewal: 13 per cent in Ontario, and 15 per cent in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nova Scotia's HST is 14 per cent as of April 1, 2025.

Sales Tax by Province

HST Provinces

Provinces: ON, NB, NS, PE, NL
Tax on renewal: Single HST rate
Register with: CRA

GST + QST

Provinces: Quebec
Tax on renewal: GST plus QST
Register with: Revenu Quebec and CRA

GST Only

Provinces: BC, AB, SK, MB
Tax on renewal: 5% GST only
Register with: CRA

Quebec administers its own sales tax, the QST, at 9.975 per cent, alongside the GST. A community billing Quebec members registers with Revenu Quebec for that tax and with the CRA for the GST.

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have no HST. Only the 5 per cent GST applies to a membership renewal, though provincial rules on other supplies may still be relevant.

Members outside Canada sit outside this framework. A community with cross-border members should look at how CASL-compliant membership renewal emails handle consent and identification.

Common questions

Does a small supplier have to charge GST/HST on renewals?

Not while it stays under the small supplier threshold. Once taxable revenue exceeds the limit in a quarter or over four consecutive quarters, registration is required and the tax applies from that point.

Which province's rate applies to a member who moved?

The place of supply follows the member's address at the time of the renewal. A member who relocates mid-term is taxed at the new province's rate on the next renewal.

What if the community is a non-profit?

Non-profit status does not automatically exempt a membership. Many memberships remain taxable, and the CRA's guidance on which rate applies should be checked for the specific supply.

How long must renewal records be kept?

Six years, as set out under Records to keep above, which also lists the records that rule covers.