Quebec QST registration: $30,000, and apply before the first sale

What triggers QST registration in 2026?

The base rule is section 407 of the Act respecting the Québec sales tax: every person who makes a taxable supply in Quebec in the course of a commercial activity carried on in Quebec must register, unless it is a small supplier, only sells immovables outside the course of a business, or is not resident in Quebec and carries on no business here legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca. Revenu Québec puts the small supplier line at $30,000 of worldwide taxable supplies, including those of associates, in a calendar quarter or the four preceding quarters revenuquebec.ca.

The always register rows come from Revenu Québec's registration page, which lists taxi businesses and nonresidents charging admission for GST and QST, then a separate QST only list for tobacco, fuel, alcohol, new tires and road vehicles other than capital property revenuquebec.ca. An alcohol seller is exempt from that rule only while it is a small supplier selling under a valid event permit legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca. A taxi business includes a driver whose rides are organized through an electronic platform such as Uber or Lyft revenuquebec.ca.

When does small supplier status end? A 2026 example

The two tests end status at different moments. Cross $30,000 inside one quarter and your client stops being a small supplier immediately and collects tax on the supply that crosses the line. Cross it over four quarters and status lasts until the end of the calendar month after those quarters revenuquebec.ca. The total includes zero rated supplies, so exports count, but leaves out the GST and QST themselves, financial services and sales of capital property such as immovables or automobiles. Revenu Québec's guide IN-202-V also excludes the goodwill of a business and walks through the same arithmetic revenuquebec.ca.

A graphic designer in Laval, with no associates, bills these amounts. No single quarter reaches $30,000, so only the four quarter test can bite.

The four quarters ending September 30, 2026 total $32,000, which exceeds $30,000. The designer stays a small supplier through October 31, 2026, so October invoices go out without tax. The first invoice after that, say $2,000 on November 3, 2026, carries $100 of GST and $199.50 of QST, for $2,299.50. The QST application has to be in before that November 3 sale.

The QST is 9.975% of the sale price, computed on the price and not on the GST, or 14.975% combined in a one step calculation revenuquebec.ca. The rates in every province are on our HST rates by province page, and the GST side of the same test, including the associate rule, is on the GST registration threshold page.

The QST deadline comes before the GST deadline

For QST, your client must apply before it makes its first taxable supply in Quebec other than as a small supplier. For GST, the rule is before the 30th day after the first taxable sale in Canada other than as a small supplier revenuquebec.ca. In the example above, the GST application could wait until just before December 3, 2026, but the QST application could not wait past November 2. Either way, tax is collected from the time registration is required, not from the day the number arrives revenuquebec.ca.

A business physically located in Quebec files both registrations with Revenu Québec, which administers the GST in Quebec under an agreement with Ottawa. The CRA handles the GST registration of persons not resident in Quebec and the GST and QST registrations of selected listed financial institutions revenuquebec.ca.

Drivers working through Uber, Lyft or another transportation system operator under agreement must be registered for GST and QST before their first trip, whatever their sales. The operator collects and remits both taxes on the driver's behalf and gives the driver the figures for the return revenuquebec.ca.

How do businesses outside Quebec register for QST?

A business with no commercial activity in Quebec falls outside section 407, so Revenu Québec catches it through two separate systems instead: the specified system, which issues numbers with NR, and the general system, which issues numbers with TQ. If both apply, the business registers only under the general one revenuquebec.ca.

The foreign row is for digital sellers revenuquebec.ca. The Canadian row catches the case accountants miss: it covers corporeal movable property too, so goods count revenuquebec.ca. A specified Quebec consumer is a person whose usual residence is in Quebec and who does not show it is registered under the general QST system revenuquebec.ca, so sales to QST registered businesses that give their number stay out of the count. Supplies made through a specified distribution platform are left out as well.

Take a Toronto online retailer registered for GST/HST that ships clothing to Quebec households by courier. It has no business in Quebec, so the courier deliveries do not trigger the general system. Over the 12 months to September 2026, its sales to Quebec consumers reach $31,200. That is more than $30,000, so it must register under the specified system, get an NR number and charge 9.975% QST on those sales. At $30,000 exactly it would not have to register.

Goods stored in a Quebec warehouse are different: once supplies of that property to buyers not registered under the general system pass $30,000 in a 12 month period, the seller registers under the general system revenuquebec.ca. A Canadian GST/HST registrant caught by the specified system may elect the general system instead if it meets the optional registration conditions, but it then has to post security satisfactory to Revenu Québec revenuquebec.ca. The federal side of nonresident registration is on our non resident GST registration page.

How does your client get a QST number, and how do you check one?

A business not yet known to Revenu Québec uses the Register a New Business online service, even if it has been operating for some time. One already registered for another tax adds the QST through My Account for businesses. The paper route is Form LM-1-V, Application for Registration revenuquebec.ca. LM-1-V can't be used for the specified system: those suppliers register through My Account for suppliers outside Québec revenuquebec.ca.

A TQ number is ten digits, the letters TQ and four more digits. Revenu Québec's Validate a QST Registration Number service and its API return the number's status, effective date and business name. A nine digit number without TQ that matches the GST/HST number belongs to a selected listed financial institution, which the CRA validates revenuquebec.ca. Checking supplier numbers on both systems is covered in our GST number lookup page.

The NR prefix matters on your client's purchases. A specified system registrant cannot claim input tax refunds revenuquebec.ca, and a TQ registrant cannot claim an ITR for QST paid to an NR supplier, even for its commercial activities. It avoids the tax by giving its TQ number before the transaction, and QST already paid has to be recovered from the supplier revenuquebec.ca. Once registered, filing follows on our QST return page.