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Quebec

GST and QST on your business expenses, line by line

Smartbills keeps GST and QST separate on every business receipt, along with the supplier details behind the claim. Your team can work in French, and your data stays in Canada.

The Château Frontenac above the rooftops of Old Québec

Smartbills keeps the GST and QST of every receipt line separate, with the supplier's registration numbers, in a product that works fully in French.

GST and QST on separate lines, every time

Smartbills keeps the GST at 5% and the QST at 9.975% as two amounts on each receipt line, with the supplier's GST and QST numbers when the receipt shows them. Because each line keeps its own category, meals and entertainment are easy to set apart for the 50% limit, and exempt or zero-rated items carry no tax to claim. What you file is what the receipts say.

  • GST and QST kept apart on every line
  • Supplier GST and QST numbers kept with the receipt
  • Meals and entertainment kept on their own lines
  • Exempt and zero-rated lines with no tax attached

In French, from the receipt to the report

The mobile app, the web dashboard and the expense reports work in French and in English, and each person picks their own language. A receipt from a Quebec merchant arrives in French, the way it was printed, and your accountant can still read the report in English if that's how they work.

  • App and dashboard in French or English, per person
  • Receipts kept in the language they were issued in
  • Reports your accountant can read in either language

Why teams switch

The tax is on the receipt, not the card statement.

Our card statement shows one total per purchase, so the QST we claim back is an estimate.

The receipt comes in with GST and QST as separate amounts, line by line. The refund you claim is the tax you actually paid.

Half the team works in French, and the expense tool we tried only really works in English.

The app, the web dashboard, the receipts and the reports all work in French. Nobody on the team has to translate their own expenses.

Since Law 25, we have to know where our financial data is kept and who can see it.

Your data is resident in Canada and we don't sell it. Access is limited to the people you invite.

Before and after

What changes on a Quebec receipt.

One Quebec purchase, first worked out from the card total, then read from the receipt.

Card statement and photos compared with With Smartbills
CapabilityCard statement and photosWith Smartbills
GST and QSTWorked out from the totalTwo amounts, from the receipt
Supplier registration numbersOnly if someone kept the paperKept with the receipt
Meals and entertainmentPicked out by hand at filing timeAlready on their own lines
LanguageEnglish-first softwareFrench or English, per person
Where the data is keptOften outside CanadaResident in Canada

Integrations

Works with the tools you already use.

Your accounting software, bank feeds and card program, with data syncing in both directions.

See all integrations
  • QuickBooks
  • Xero
  • Sage
  • FreshBooks
  • Wave
  • MYOB
  • Zoho Books
  • NetSuite
  • SAP
  • Oracle
  • Dynamics 365
  • Square
  • Shopify
  • Clover
  • Toast
  • Lightspeed
  • WooCommerce
  • Stripe
  • PayPal
  • Adyen
  • Wise
  • Plaid
  • Chase
  • Bank of America
  • Wells Fargo
  • RBC
  • TD
  • BMO
  • Scotiabank
  • Desjardins
  • Brex
  • Ramp
  • Float
  • Mercury
  • Gusto
  • ADP
  • Deel
  • Rippling
  • Google Drive
  • Dropbox
  • OneDrive
  • Box
  • Gmail
  • Outlook
  • Google Analytics
  • Snowflake
  • Looker
  • Databricks
  • Google Cloud
  • Metabase
  • Slack
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Notion
  • Zapier
  • Airtable
  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot

The products that do the work.

Each product works on its own, and when you run two, the same record carries from the receipt to the ledger entry.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What people ask us before they sign up.

Quebec charges the federal GST at 5% and the provincial QST at 9.975%, for a combined rate of 14.975%. For most Quebec businesses, Revenu Québec administers both taxes. Since 2013 the QST is calculated on the price before GST, not on top of it, which is why the two amounts have to be kept separately rather than backed out of the total.

An input tax credit (ITC) recovers the GST a registered business paid on its purchases. An input tax refund (ITR) does the same for the QST. Most Quebec businesses claim both from Revenu Québec, on the same purchases and often on the same filing, but each is calculated on its own tax, which is why Smartbills keeps the two on separate lines.

Generally no. Meals and entertainment are limited to 50% of the tax for both ITCs and ITRs. Because Smartbills keeps each purchase categorized line by line, those amounts are already set apart when you or your accountant prepare the return.

Yes. The mobile app, the web dashboard, the receipts and the reports all work in French and in English. Each person chooses their own language. A team can work in French while the accountant reads the reports in English.

Your data is resident in Canada and we don't sell it. Smartbills is built in Montréal with Quebec's Law 25 in mind: access is limited to the people you invite, and you decide who they are.

Yes. The Free plan lets you try receipt capture and basic expense tracking. Accounting sync and the approval workflows are on the paid plans, which are listed on the pricing page in Canadian dollars.

Both are calculated on the price before tax: GST at 5% and QST at 9.975%, a combined 14.975%. On $100.00, the GST is $5.00, the QST is $9.98 and the total is $114.98.

With Revenu Québec, which administers both the GST and the QST for most Quebec businesses. Registration becomes mandatory once taxable sales pass the $30,000 small-supplier threshold.

Get started

Bring a month of Quebec receipts.

Connect a mailbox and a card. A month of Quebec purchases comes in with the GST and QST already split and the registration numbers kept.

Get started freeBook a demo