Why is sales tax different in every province?

Because there are three systems running at once. Alberta and the three territories charge only the 5% federal GST. Ontario and the Atlantic provinces use HST, a single blended rate — 13% in Ontario, 15% in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador, with Nova Scotia having moved to 14% in April 2025. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba charge GST plus a separate provincial PST, and Quebec charges GST plus QST. So the same purchase costs different amounts in Calgary and Toronto, and the calculator asks for the rate rather than guessing from the country.

Is Quebec's QST just a PST with another name?

Not quite. QST is administered by Revenu Quebec rather than the CRA, and it is filed separately, so a business selling into Quebec deals with two authorities instead of one. The rate is 9.975%, an odd figure that exists because QST was once charged on the GST-inclusive amount and the rate was rebased in 2013 to give the same result without the compounding. Today GST and QST are both calculated on the pre-tax price, so you can simply add 5% and 9.975% to the same base.

Why does my mortgage payment differ slightly from this calculator?

Because Canadian fixed mortgages compound semi-annually, not monthly. That is set by the Interest Act, and it is unusual — American mortgages compound monthly. It means a posted 5% Canadian rate is not the same monthly cost as a posted 5% American one, and the true effective annual rate is slightly lower.\n\nBe aware that the calculator on this site uses monthly compounding, so on a Canadian mortgage its payment runs a few dollars high on a typical balance. Use it for planning and comparing scenarios, and take your lender's figure as the real one. We would rather say this plainly than have you find it at signing.

Should I put money in an RRSP or a TFSA?

They are taxed at opposite ends. An RRSP contribution is deducted from this year's income and the withdrawal is taxed later, so it favours you if your income now is higher than it will be in retirement. A TFSA is funded with money already taxed and everything after that — growth and withdrawals — is tax-free, which favours you if your income is low now or you may need the money before retirement. TFSA withdrawal room comes back the following calendar year, RRSP room generally does not. Both have annual limits that change; check yours on your CRA notice of assessment rather than assuming.

Why do Canadians use metric for some things and imperial for others?

Metrication started in the 1970s and stopped partway. Anything measured by government or sold by regulation went metric: road signs in kilometres, fuel in litres, temperature in Celsius, food weights in grams. Anything measured between people did not. So height is still feet and inches, body weight is pounds, recipes and ovens are often Fahrenheit, and lumber is sold as two-by-fours. It is not inconsistency so much as two vocabularies for different situations, which is why the converters here handle both directions rather than picking a side.

When is my tax return due?

For most people, 30 April for the previous calendar year — unlike Britain and India, the Canadian tax year is the ordinary calendar year. If you or your spouse are self-employed, the filing deadline moves to 15 June, but any balance owing is still due 30 April, and interest runs from 1 May regardless of when you file. RRSP contributions can be applied to the previous year if made within the first sixty days of the new one, which is why there is an RRSP rush every February.

Should I print on A4 or Letter?

Letter. Canada uses the same 8.5 by 11 inch page as the United States, not the A4 used in Britain, Europe, India and Australia. This catches people who receive a document from overseas: A4 is 210 by 297mm, narrower and taller, so printing it straight onto Letter cuts roughly 18mm off the bottom. Choose Letter in the PDF tools here, and use "fit to page" for anything that arrived from an A4 country.

Do these tools work in French?

The interface is English only at present. The calculations themselves are language-independent — a percentage or a unit conversion gives the same answer whatever the label says — but the labels, help text and these answers are not translated, and we are not going to claim otherwise. If you need French-language tools for Quebec compliance work, treat these as a calculation aid rather than a document you can hand to a client.

Free Online Tools for Canada

Canada is a metric country that never quite finished the job. Roads are in kilometres and milk comes in litres, but people give their height in feet and their weight in pounds, and ovens are set in Fahrenheit. Sales tax is worse: there is a federal GST, some provinces fold it into a single HST, others add a separate PST, and Quebec runs its own QST on top. Paper is Letter, like the United States, not A4. The tools below let you pick which convention you are working in rather than assuming one.