This calculator adds Quebec’s GST and QST to a price, showing each separately, or switches to reverse mode to take them out of a total you’ve already paid.
Stores round each tax line separately, so a receipt can differ from this result by a cent or two.
How sales tax works in Quebec
Quebec charges the 5% GST and the 9.975% Quebec Sales Tax (QST) as two separate taxes, for 14.975% in total. Unlike in other provinces, Revenu Québec administers both: Quebec businesses generally file their GST and QST returns with Revenu Québec, not the Canada Revenue Agency.
At 14.975%, Quebec’s rate is just below the 15% charged in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, and above neighbouring Ontario’s 13% HST. On a $3,000 purchase, that is $449.25 of tax in Quebec against $390.00 in Ontario and $450.00 in New Brunswick. The sales tax by province page compares every province.
Why the QST rate has three decimals
Until January 1, 2013, the QST was a tax on a tax: 9.5% of the price including the GST. When Quebec switched to charging the QST on the pre-tax price, it set the new rate at 9.5% × 1.05 = 9.975%, so shoppers paid exactly the same tax as before. That is why the rate is 9.975% rather than a round number.
Today each tax is worked out on the pre-tax price and the two are added:
| Step | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $100.00 | |
| GST | $100 × 5% | $5.00 |
| QST | $100 × 9.975% | $9.98 |
| Total | $114.98 |
The reverse sales tax calculator splits a Quebec receipt total back into its GST and QST.
What the QST doesn’t tax
Basic groceries and prescription drugs are zero-rated for both taxes. Beyond the federal list (see zero-rated and exempt), Quebec zero-rates several items for the QST only, so they carry just the 5% GST:
- Printed books with an ISBN
- Children’s diapers and breastfeeding items
- Menstrual products, such as pads, tampons and menstrual cups
- Toilet paper and facial tissues, since July 15, 2026
- Some grocery snack foods, also since July 15, 2026: cut fruit and vegetable platters, salted or seasoned nuts and seeds, granola bars and trail mix, and single servings of foods such as ice cream, sweet baked goods and pudding that were already zero-rated in larger packs. These stay taxable at restaurants, from vending machines and with catering.
Children’s clothing and footwear are not on the list, so they carry the full 14.975%, unlike in Ontario, where the provincial part of the HST is rebated on them.
Restaurant meals and vehicles
Restaurant meals carry both taxes, so a $50 meal has $7.49 of tax in Quebec, compared with $2.50 in BC, where restaurant food is PST-exempt.
A dealer charges both taxes on a vehicle, and the value of a trade-in comes off the price first. A private used-vehicle sale carries the 9.975% QST only, paid when you register the vehicle with the SAAQ. The car sales tax by province page compares these rules across provinces.
For businesses
A business that makes taxable sales in Quebec registers for both taxes once its revenue from taxable supplies is over $30,000, the same small supplier threshold as the GST. It recovers the QST it pays on business purchases through input tax refunds, the QST’s equivalent of the GST’s input tax credits. The GST/HST calculator for business owners covers the GST side.
Related pages
- Sales tax by province: every province’s rate and how the three systems work
- Ontario and New Brunswick sales tax
- Reverse sales tax calculator
- Quebec income tax