Short answer: register, and the 5% to 15% GST/HST on your Amazon ads comes back to you as input tax credits. For an Amazon seller, Canada is the exception among tax countries: Amazon already charges GST/HST on the amazon.ca sales of sellers who are not registered. Your customers pay the same tax either way, so registering costs you nothing on those sales, and gives you back the tax on your ads, your stock and your fees. With $1,500 of ads a month in Ontario, that is $2,340 a year on the ads alone.
For Amazon sellers (FBA and FBM) based in Canada, from the Excise Tax Act, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), Revenu Québec and Amazon's own pages, checked in October 2026. This is information, not tax advice: confirm your case with your accountant.
Work out your case with our free calculator
What tax your ads carry
The tax is your province's rate, from the CRA's table (Nova Scotia at 14% since April 1, 2025):
| Where you are | Tax on your ads | On $1,500 a month, per year |
|---|---|---|
| Alberta, B.C., Manitoba, Saskatchewan, territories | 5% GST | $900 |
| Ontario | 13% HST | $2,340 |
| Nova Scotia | 14% HST | $2,520 |
| New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, P.E.I. | 15% HST | $2,700 |
| Quebec | 5% GST + 9.975% QST | $2,696 |
Who bills you depends on the marketplace (Amazon Advertising Agreement, posted July 23, 2026):
- amazon.ca: Amazon Advertising Canada, Inc. A Canadian supply: the GST/HST is on the invoice whether or not you are registered. Registered, you claim it back as an input tax credit (ITC).
- amazon.com: Amazon.com Services LLC, the contracting party for sellers. It adds GST/HST when you give no number. Give it your number: tax it charges a registered customer "is not recoverable by claiming an input tax credit or by filing a rebate application" (CRA, cross-border digital services). Only Amazon can refund it.
Why registering costs a seller nothing on amazon.ca
Since July 1, 2021, Amazon charges GST/HST on the sales of sellers who are not registered. The CRA: a distribution platform operator must "charge and collect the GST/HST on the supply of qualifying goods that you facilitate through your platform and that are made by vendors who are not registered for the GST/HST (resident or not)" (CRA, supply of qualifying goods in Canada). It covers goods "in a fulfillment warehouse, or shipped from a place in Canada": FBA and FBM alike (Excise Tax Act, section 211.23).
Registered, you collect it yourself, at the same rate. The CRA: "The rates are the same for the simplified and normal GST/HST." The buyer pays the same price, plus the same tax. What changes is who remits it, and that you now get ITCs on what you buy.
Example: Ontario, $10,000 of amazon.ca sales a month to consumers. You buy $4,000 of stock (plus $520 HST) and $1,500 of ads on amazon.ca (plus $195 HST).
| Per month | Not registered | Registered |
|---|---|---|
| HST on your sales | $1,300, remitted by Amazon | $1,300 collected, remitted by you |
| Stock | $4,520 | $4,000 (ITC $520) |
| Ads | $1,695 | $1,500 (ITC $195) |
| What is left | $3,785 | $4,500 |
Registering earns you $715 a month here, before your bookkeeping. Not registered, the platform charges no GST/HST on "the platform services that you provide to these non-registered vendors" (same CRA page); registered, it does, and you claim it back: neutral.
The one sale where registering costs you: outside Amazon. On your own website, at a fair or to a shop, a registered seller charges GST/HST too. If you cannot add it to your price there, it comes out of your margin.
Under $30,000: you can register, and it pays
Below $30,000 of taxable sales over four consecutive calendar quarters, you are a small supplier and do not have to register, but you can. The CRA: "If you are a small supplier and you are engaged in a commercial activity in Canada, you can choose to register voluntarily" (RC4022).
- You stay registered at least one year. RC4022: "You have to stay registered for at least one year before you can ask to cancel your registration."
- Your stock comes with you. A small supplier who registers is treated as having bought the inventory on hand that day, with GST/HST equal to its "basic tax content" (CRA, input tax credits).
- Past ads do not. "You cannot claim an ITC for the GST/HST paid or payable on services supplied to you before you became a registrant" (same page).
Above $30,000, registration is not optional, even with Amazon collecting. The $30,000 test counts your taxable supplies "made inside or outside Canada" (section 148). Section 211.23 moves your amazon.ca sales to Amazon "other than for the purposes of applying sections 148 and 249 in respect of the particular person", and other than for section 240, the one that obliges you to register. So your Amazon sales still count toward your own threshold. No CRA page states it in those words: to have it in writing, ask the CRA for a free GST/HST ruling on your case.
Already registered: is your number in Seller Central?
Sellers enter it in Seller Central, not in the Ads console (Register your Tax ID): Account Info, then VAT Information, then Add new VAT/GST Registration number.
Without it, two things go wrong:
- Amazon keeps collecting the tax on your sales as if you were not registered, while the CRA makes a registered vendor "charge and collect the GST/HST" on its own sales, including those made through a platform.
- Your amazon.com ads carry GST/HST you can never claim as an ITC. Ask Amazon for a refund, with proof your registration was "active during the billing period"; allow 30 days (Tax refunds). Amazon gives no deadline, but the Act lets a supplier refund only "within two years" (section 232): ask now.
ITCs you forgot on amazon.ca ads: claim them by the due date of the return for the last period ending "within four years" after the period you could first have claimed them (CRA, input tax credits).
Sell to businesses? The same answer
A registered business customer claims back the GST/HST you charge, so registering costs you nothing on those sales either. In the calculator, choose "Seller to businesses (B2B)". Your ads on amazon.com need no self-assessment: imported services used at least 90% in your commercial activities are excluded (section 217).
Frequently asked questions
I live in Quebec. Do I need two registrations?
You register once, with Revenu Québec, for both the GST/HST and the QST. The provincial sales taxes of B.C., Manitoba and Saskatchewan are not covered here.
Amazon charged me a "Regulatory Advertising Fee" for Canada. Do I get it back?
Yes, automatically. Canada's Digital Services Tax was repealed on March 26, 2026, and Amazon Ads is refunding the fee charged on ads served in Canada between August 15, 2024 and July 31, 2025, with a statement under Billing, Documents (Regulatory Advertising Fees).
Will Amazon refund the GST/HST on my past amazon.ca ads?
No. On amazon.ca it was due in any case. Registered at the time, you claim it as an ITC; before your registration, it stays a cost.
Before you decide
Work out your case with our free calculator, then take the figure to your accountant.
Every dollar wasted on a click that never sells costs you up to $1.15: see how Amazon negative keywords work and how much Sponsored Products ads cost. Publishing books too? Canadian KDP authors and GST/HST on Amazon ads.
Sources
- Excise Tax Act, section 148 (small supplier), section 211.23 (distribution platform operators), section 217 and section 232, Justice Laws
- Supply of qualifying goods in Canada, CRA
- Cross-border digital products or services, CRA
- General Information for GST/HST Registrants (RC4022) (small supplier, voluntary registration, rulings), CRA
- Input tax credits (time limits, new registrants), CRA
- GST/HST calculator (and rates), CRA
- Marketplace Tax Collection, Amazon.ca
- Amazon Advertising Agreement ("Amazon Contracting Party") and Tax Policy, Amazon Ads
- Register your Tax ID, Tax refunds and Regulatory Advertising Fees, Amazon Ads help
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