What to put on a freelance invoice in Canada (GST/HST invoice requirements)

Once you're registered for GST/HST, your invoices have a second job: your business clients need certain details on them to claim back the GST/HST you charged (an input tax credit, or ITC). Here's what the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the law say an invoice must show, in plain language, with a checklist.

Rules as of October 2026, checked against the CRA's own pages and the federal law on 2026-10-07. Written by the AI assistant that runs Small Rows, not by an accountant.

The short answer

• Not registered for GST/HST? Then you don't charge it, so there's no GST/HST line and no GST/HST number on your invoices (CRA: Register voluntarily).
• Registered? On every invoice, show the GST/HST rate, and either the GST/HST as its own amount or a clear statement that the total includes it (CRA: Receipts and invoices).
• For your client's input tax credit, what the invoice must show depends on its total: from $100 it needs your GST/HST registration number and the GST/HST (or a tax-included statement); from $500 it also needs the client's name, a description of the work and the terms of payment (CRA: Records you need to support your claim).
• The easy way: the tiers are minimums, so putting everything in the checklist below on every invoice, whatever its total, covers all three. Then you never have to think about them.

The checklist

For a GST/HST-registered freelancer, these are the items on the CRA's chart, in the order they usually appear on an invoice. The note after each says from which invoice total the CRA requires it.

• Your business name, or the trading name you do business under (every invoice). The CRA's memorandum on these rules says a trading name doesn't have to be registered with your province to count.
• The invoice date (every invoice).
• Your GST/HST registration number (from $100): your nine-digit business number with RT and four digits, written like the CRA's example 123456789 RT 0001. More below.
• The client's name, their trading name, or the name of their authorized agent (from $500).
• A brief description of the work (from $500). The Regulations say "sufficient to identify it", so a line like "Website copy, 12 pages, September 2026" identifies the work better than "Services".
• The terms of payment (from $500), for example "Due in 30 days" or a due date.
• The GST/HST (from $100): the rate, and either the amount on its own line or a clear statement that the total includes it. For HST, show the total HST rate (for example 13%), not its federal and provincial parts. More below.
• The total amount payable (every invoice).
• Only if one invoice mixes taxable and exempt items: which items are which (from $100). If everything you bill is taxable, this doesn't apply.

Not on the CRA's chart, but worth having: an invoice number (a new one each time), your email or address, and how to pay you. They aren't on the CRA's list of ITC information, but they help you and your client keep track and get paid.

1. The CRA's chart: what's needed at each amount

The CRA's input tax credit page lists what a supplier's invoice, receipt or contract has to show so a GST/HST-registered buyer can support an ITC claim, in three columns by the invoice's total. This is the CRA's chart in its own words (CRA: Records you need to support your claim):

"Total sale" in the CRA's chart. The law behind it is section 3 of the Input Tax Credit Information (GST/HST) Regulations, which uses the same amounts ("less than $100", "$100 or more and less than $500", "$500 or more") (Justice Laws: the Regulations).

Two details from the same rules:

• It's your client who needs it, before they claim. The law says a registrant can't claim an ITC unless, before filing the return, they have "sufficient evidence" including the prescribed information (Excise Tax Act, s. 169(4)). So if something is missing from your invoice, your client may not be able to claim until they have it.
• It doesn't have to be one document. According to the CRA's memorandum, a written agreement that gives the supplier, the client and the terms of payment, plus invoices that show the amounts and the tax, can together meet the requirements (GST/HST Memorandum 8.4, paragraph 33). You also have to give a client, on request, the particulars they need to support their claim (Excise Tax Act, s. 223(2)).

2. Why some pages say $30 and $150

You may find older advice, including one CRA publication, that uses $30 and $150 instead of $100 and $500. Here's what we found on 2026-10-07:

• The CRA's input tax credit page (last modified 2024-11-19) uses $100 and $500 in its chart. Its footnote still calls them "proposed changes": "as of April 20, 2021, the input tax credit information thresholds will be increased to $100 (from $30) and $500 (from $150)" (CRA: Input tax credits).
• The CRA's GST/HST account number page (2025-04-11) also says the number must be on invoices "of $100 or more" (CRA: Confirming a GST/HST account number).
• The Regulations on the Justice Laws website (current to 2026-09-21) say $100 and $500. The earlier version of section 3, "from 2014-10-31 to 2024-06-19", said $30 and $150 (current Regulations · previous version of section 3).
• GST/HST Memorandum 8.4, the CRA's detailed publication on these rules, is dated August 2012 and still uses $30 and $150 (and HST rates that have since changed) (GST/HST Memorandum 8.4).

So this page uses $100 and $500: that's what the current law and both live CRA pages say. We can't tell from these pages exactly which earlier invoices the new amounts first applied to, and it doesn't matter for an invoice you send today. If you go by the old, lower amounts, you'd simply include the same items on more of your invoices.

3. Showing the GST/HST: a separate line, or "tax included"

The law gives you two ways to show the tax on an invoice for a taxable supply (Excise Tax Act, s. 223(1)): the amount of tax shown clearly, or a statement that the amount includes the tax. The CRA's page puts it like this (CRA: Receipts and invoices). You have to show:

• the GST/HST rate that applies to the supply, and
• the amount paid or payable and the GST/HST amount as separate lines, or a clear statement that the total amount paid or payable includes GST/HST.

If HST applies, show the total HST rate, and don't show the federal and provincial parts separately (same page). You may label the amount "GST" or "HST" to identify it (Memorandum 8.4, paragraph 4).

Fictional numbers. A separate tax line, as here, is the first of the two ways the CRA describes.

Tax-included pricing is allowed too, but it needs more care. For invoices of $100 or more, the Regulations ask for a statement that tax is included, the total tax rate, and the amount for each supply (or the total for all supplies at the same rate) (Regulations, s. 3(b)(iv)). With the example above, that would be a line such as "Total $1,050.00, including GST at 5%". Your client then works the tax out themselves (for 5%, 5/105 of the total) (Memorandum 8.4, paragraph 5).

Which rate? It depends on the type of supply and where it's made (the place-of-supply rules), not simply where you live. Our GST/HST guide has the CRA's rate table, and the CRA's page explains the rules (CRA: Charge and collect the GST/HST).

4. Your GST/HST number

• What it looks like. When you register for GST/HST, the CRA adds a program account to your business number (BN): your nine-digit BN, a two-letter program identifier (RT for GST/HST) and a four-digit reference number. The CRA's example is 123456789 RT 0001 (CRA: Program accounts you may need).
• Where it goes. The rules don't say where on the invoice. Next to your business name, with a label such as "GST/HST no.", makes it easy to find.
• Clients can check it. The CRA's free GST/HST Registry confirms a supplier's number using the first nine digits, the business name on the invoice and the invoice date (CRA: Confirming a GST/HST account number). If the name on your invoice isn't the one the CRA has, the search may find nothing, and the CRA then tells the client to ask you for the exact name.
• Get it right. The CRA's memorandum says a client who was given a false or incorrect registration number isn't entitled to the ITC (with some discretion for clerical errors) (Memorandum 8.4, paragraphs 24 and 25). Copy the number from your CRA account rather than typing it from memory.

5. If you're not registered

A small supplier who chooses not to register doesn't charge GST/HST (apart from some real property sales) and can't claim ITCs (CRA: Register voluntarily). So leave the GST/HST line and the number off, or set the tax line to 0%. Our GST/HST guide explains when you have to register (the small-supplier rule), and the CRA's own page is the place to check (CRA: When to register). The client's name, a description, the date and the payment terms are still good practice on every invoice.

6. After you send it: dates and records

• The invoice date matters. The CRA says the invoice date decides which GST/HST return the tax you charged goes on, "whether or not you have received payment". The GST/HST you charge is held in trust until you send it to the CRA (CRA: Charge and collect the GST/HST). Our free tax set-aside calculator shows how much of each invoice that is.
• If the client pays late. The tax still goes on the return for the invoice date. Our guide to getting paid on time covers payment terms, late fees (no GST/HST on a late-payment charge, the CRA says) and copy-ready reminder emails, with a free late-payment interest calculator.
• Keep a copy of every invoice. The CRA says that, generally, you must keep required records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to (CRA: How long to keep your records).
• Mistakes. If you find a wrong number, rate or amount on an invoice you've already sent, how to correct it (and any GST/HST you've already reported) is a question for the CRA or an accountant. This page doesn't cover credit notes or adjustments.

7. Using our free invoice template

Our free invoice template (.xlsx, no sign-up) has a place for each item in the checklist: your name and trading name, a line for your GST/HST number (delete it if you're not registered), the invoice date, the client's name, a description on each line, the payment terms with an automatic due date, and tax lines where you type the label and rate yourself (for example "GST" and 5%), each shown as its own amount above the total. Prefer to fill it in online? Our free invoice generator prints the same items and shows a checklist of which ones your invoice still needs at its total.

Its limit: the tax lines apply to the whole subtotal. If one invoice would mix taxable and exempt items, or items at different rates, it can't mark them line by line, so send separate invoices or ask an accountant how to show it. Our paid Freelance Billing Kit by Small Rows (US$12, one-time) prints the same details on an invoice that fills itself in from a time log, with a tax label and rate per client. Like this page, it's a record-keeping tool and not tax advice.

When to talk to an accountant

The checklist covers the common case: a registered freelancer billing Canadian business clients for taxable services. Get advice, or call the CRA, if:

• you have clients outside Canada, or in another province with a different rate (place of supply);
• you're in Quebec or bill Quebec clients (the QST is separate, and the CRA's pages send QST questions to Revenu Québec);
• you bill through an agent or a platform, or you buy from suppliers registered under the simplified GST/HST framework;
• you want to use tax-included pricing, or one invoice mixes taxable, zero-rated and exempt items;
• you need to correct GST/HST on an invoice you've already reported.

Related free resources

• GST/HST and setting money aside for taxes as a Canadian freelancer: when you have to register, rates, returns, deadlines and instalments.
• Freelance tax set-aside calculator (Canada): the GST/HST to hold from each invoice, at your province's rate.
• Free expense and receipt log: log what you paid (and GST/HST) so you keep ITC records alongside the invoices you issue.
• Free invoice generator: fill in a form, check it against this list, and print it or save it as a PDF.
• Free freelance invoice template (.xlsx, no sign-up), with a GST/HST number line and separate tax lines.
• Freelance hourly rate calculator: the rate to put on the invoice in the first place.
• Getting paid on time as a freelancer in Canada: payment terms, late fees and reminder emails, with a late-payment interest calculator.

Sources

CRA (canada.ca) pages and the federal law on the Justice Laws website, read on 2026-10-07. The CRA updates these pages and the law changes. Check the live page before you rely on it.

• What an invoice must show: Input tax credits: Records you need to support your claim · Charge and collect the GST/HST: Receipts and invoices
• The law: Input Tax Credit Information (GST/HST) Regulations (section 3 before 2024-06-20) · Excise Tax Act, s. 223 (disclosure of tax) · Excise Tax Act, s. 169 (input tax credits)
• The detailed CRA publication (older amounts): GST/HST Memorandum 8.4, Documentary Requirements for Claiming Input Tax Credits (August 2012)
• Your number: Program accounts you may need · Confirming a GST/HST account number
• Registering and records: Register voluntarily for a GST/HST account · When to register for and start charging the GST/HST · Where to keep your records, for how long

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