GST/HST on restaurant food and takeout in Canada

Restaurant meals and takeout are taxable in Canada: you charge 5% GST, or 13% to 15% HST in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, on food that is heated, made to eat right away or sold by a restaurant. On top of GST, Saskatchewan adds 6% PST and Manitoba 7% RST to restaurant meals, Quebec adds 9.975% QST, and British Columbia charges PST only on liquor and pop, not on food. Basic groceries stay zero-rated, so a bakery selling a box of six muffins or a loaf of bread can charge 0% on those items.

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This is general information, not tax advice. Check your situation with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), your provincial finance ministry or an accountant.

GST, HST and provincial tax on restaurant meals by province

GST and HST rates are from the CRA's rate table; provincial rates are from each province's finance ministry (see Sources).

What GST/HST applies to, and what stays at 0%

Under the Excise Tax Act, "basic groceries" are zero-rated, but much of what a restaurant or café sells is carved out of that list. The CRA's memorandum on basic groceries (GST/HST Memorandum 4.3) sets out the rules:

Taxable (5% GST or the HST rate):

• Food or drinks heated for consumption, including hot food from a heated cabinet or takeout counter.
• Salads, unless canned or vacuum sealed, and sandwiches, unless frozen.
• Platters of cheese, cold cuts, fruit, vegetables or sushi, and other arrangements of prepared food.
• Drinks dispensed where they're sold, such as coffee, tea and juice, whatever their size or temperature.
• Carbonated drinks, and non-carbonated fruit drinks with less than 25% real juice.
• Snack foods such as chips, salted nuts and popped popcorn.
• Cakes, muffins, cookies, doughnuts and pastries sold in quantities of fewer than six single servings (a single serving is generally under 230 g).
• Anything sold from a vending machine.

Zero-rated (0%) when sold by a shop that isn't a restaurant-type "establishment":

• Cold food from unheated or refrigerated shelves that the customer reheats at home.
• Bread and unsweetened baked goods, such as bagels and plain croissants.
• Six or more single servings of sweet baked goods, packaged or not.

The 90% rule. If 90% or more of your food and drink sales are taxable, the CRA treats you as an "establishment" (restaurants, fast food, takeout and delivery outlets, coffee shops, bars and caterers are named), and everything you sell is taxable. Two exceptions remain: food in a form not suitable for eating right away, such as an unbaked pizza, and sweet baked goods sold in quantities of more than five that aren't eaten on your premises.

Example: a bakery-café that isn't a 90% establishment

Provincial rules restaurants trip over

Ontario: 13% HST and the C$4 rebate

Ontario's 13% HST is 5% federal and 8% provincial. The 8% provincial part is rebated at the point of sale on prepared food and drinks ready to eat, when the qualifying items in one sale total C$4 or less before HST. A C$3.50 coffee and muffin carries 5%; a C$12 lunch carries the full 13%. Alcohol never qualifies.

British Columbia: PST on liquor and pop, not on meals

Food, including restaurant meals, snack foods and non-alcoholic drinks like coffee or iced tea, is exempt from BC's PST. Liquor carries 10% PST and sweetened carbonated drinks (soft drinks, kombucha, sweetened sparkling water, fountain drinks) carry 7% PST. In a combo where pop isn't sold separately, PST applies to the lesser of 50% of the combo price or C$3. BC requires PST to be shown as a separate line on the customer's receipt.

Saskatchewan: 6% PST on meals since April 2017

Since 1 April 2017, meals and other prepared food and non-alcoholic drinks are subject to 6% PST, which must be shown as a separate amount on the invoice. Liquor carries 10% Liquor Consumption Tax instead. A delivery charge listed separately from the pickup price isn't subject to PST, and optional tips shown separately aren't either, but mandatory gratuities are. On delivery-app orders, the app is a marketplace facilitator and collects the PST itself.

Manitoba: 7% RST, and the July 2026 exemption skips restaurants

Prepared food sold by restaurants carries 7% retail sales tax. From 1 July 2026, Manitoba exempted more food from RST, including ready-to-eat sandwiches, soups and salads, pop and sweet baked goods. The exemption does not apply to restaurants, bakeries, food courts, coffee shops, cafeterias, food carts and food trucks, including orders taken by phone or online for pickup or delivery. A delivery charge shown separately from the pickup price isn't taxable.

Quebec: GST plus QST, and mandatory billing

Restaurant meals carry 5% GST and 9.975% QST, worked out on the price before tax (14.975% in total). Revenu Québec says the 14.975% combined rate must not appear on the document given to the customer.

Quebec restaurants, bars, caterers and businesses providing meals to eat elsewhere are subject to mandatory billing: they must send transaction data through a certified sales recording system (SRS) that communicates with the WEB-SRM, and give every customer a bill produced by that SRS. Menuthere is not a certified SRS. A Quebec restaurant can take orders through Menuthere, but each sale must go through its certified system and the customer must get that system's bill.

Worked example: one C$30 takeout order in seven provinces

Two pasta dinners at C$12.50 and a C$5.00 garlic bread, picked up hot, no drinks. Rates as of October 2026.

Add a C$3.00 can of pop in BC: GST is 5% of C$33.00 (C$1.65) and PST is 7% of the pop only (C$0.21), so the customer pays C$34.86. A C$3.50 coffee and cookie in Ontario is under C$4, so only the 5% federal part applies: C$0.18 tax, C$3.68 in total.

Setting up GST/HST on Menuthere orders

1. Go to Settings → Payments & tax → Tax Settings and switch on Charge tax on orders.
2. Enter your Tax percentage and your GST/HST number as the Tax number.
3. The tax line is named GST automatically for Canadian stores. In an HST province, type HST in Tax name on bills.
4. For zero-rated items, such as a box of six muffins or a plain loaf, open the dish, switch on Own tax rate and enter 0. The bill then shows one line per rate, for example "HST 13%" and "HST 0%". Past orders keep the rate they were charged at.
5. If your menu prices already include tax, switch on Tax Inclusive on those dishes; checkout shows a "GST (included)" row and doesn't add to the total.

The honest limitation: a Menuthere store has one tax name, so it can't print GST and PST as two separate lines on the same dish. A combined rate goes on one line. That's fine in the HST provinces and Alberta; in the PST provinces, check your receipt rules first. See tax setup and tax-inclusive prices. Tips added at checkout are never taxed (tips and service charge); for tipping on takeout and delivery orders, see tipping on takeout orders.

Do you need to register at all?

If your worldwide taxable sales, zero-rated ones included, stay at C$30,000 or less over four consecutive calendar quarters, you're a small supplier and don't have to register for GST/HST. If you go over C$30,000 in a single quarter, you must register and charge tax from the sale that takes you over. If you're not registered, leave Charge tax on orders switched off. A home baker starting out is often in this position: see home-based food business rules. PST registration follows each province's own rules.

Checklist before you set your tax rate

• Find your province's total rate in the table above.
• Decide whether you're a 90% establishment (most restaurants are).
• List items that stay zero-rated for you (six-plus sweet baked goods, bread) and give them a 0% Own tax rate.
• In BC, Saskatchewan or Manitoba, check how your receipts must show PST or RST.
• In Quebec, ring every order through your certified SRS.
• Remember that delivery apps charge GST/HST on their own commission; see SkipTheDishes vs DoorDash vs Uber Eats.

Taking orders on your own site? See the online ordering system for Canada or online ordering for bakeries. Plans are billed in US dollars: Free US$0, Lite US$17 and Pro US$39 a month (pricing).

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