Canadian Invoice Template with GST/HST (Copy and Fill In)

Short answer: Use the GST/HST invoice template below if you are registered and the plain one if you are not. Every Canadian invoice needs your business name, the date and the total. From $100, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) also expects your GST/HST number and the tax charged; from $500, the client’s name, a description and the payment terms. Charge 5% GST or 13% to 15% HST, by the province where the supply is made. If you are not registered, show no tax at all.

The templates follow the CRA’s GST/HST rules for the 2026 tax year, for sole proprietors, freelancers and contractors billing clients in Canada. There is nothing to download: copy a block into Word, Google Docs, Excel or Google Sheets and replace the brackets. Why each field exists is in how to invoice in Canada as a freelancer, and how an invoice differs from a receipt is in receipt vs invoice.

Which Canadian invoice template do you need?

Your GST/HST registration decides the template, and the province where the supply is made decides the tax line.

Registered?	Supply made in	Template	Tax lines
No (small supplier)	Anywhere	Plain invoice	None
Yes	Alberta or a territory	GST/HST invoice	GST 5%
Yes	An HST province	GST/HST invoice	HST 13% (ON), 14% (NS) or 15% (NB, NL, PE)
Yes	BC, Saskatchewan or Manitoba	GST/HST invoice	GST 5%, plus a provincial tax line if you are registered for it and it applies
Yes	Quebec	GST/HST invoice	GST 5% and QST on separate lines; see Quebec sales tax for contractors

You must register for GST/HST once your worldwide taxable revenue passes $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over four consecutive calendar quarters. The rates are on the CRA’s GST/HST rates page. For services, the place-of-supply rules generally point to the province of the client’s address, but work on a house or building follows where the property is.

What does the CRA require on an invoice?

The CRA does not publish an invoice layout; it lists the information a document must contain, and the list grows with the size of the sale.

Information	Under $100	$100 to $499.99	$500 or more	Field in the template
Your business or trading name	Yes	Yes	Yes	From
Invoice date	Yes	Yes	Yes	Invoice date
Total paid or payable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Total
Your GST/HST registration number	–	Yes	Yes	GST/HST no.
GST/HST charged, or a statement that the price includes it	–	Yes	Yes	Tax line
Which items are taxable, if exempt items also appear	–	Yes	Yes	Line markers
Client’s name or trading name	–	–	Yes	Bill to
Brief description of the goods or services	–	–	Yes	Line items
Terms of payment	–	–	Yes	Terms

These bands, in force since April 20, 2021, come from the CRA’s documentary requirements for claiming input tax credits. Business clients need them to claim their credits, so they will send back an invoice that misses one. The templates below meet the $500 standard, so you never have to check which band a job landed in.

An invoice number and due date are not on the list, but the CRA’s business records guidance says income records must be backed by original documents such as sales invoices, and one unbroken number sequence shows none are missing.

GST/HST invoice template for registered businesses

Copy this block, replace everything in square brackets, and delete the lines you do not need.

INVOICE

Invoice no.:    [2026-001]
Invoice date:   [YYYY-MM-DD]
Due date:       [YYYY-MM-DD]

From:           [Your name or business name]
                [Street, city, province, postal code]
                [Email]  [Phone]
GST/HST no.:    [123456789 RT0001]

Bill to:        [Client name or business name]
                [Street, city, province, postal code]

Description              Qty   Rate        Amount
[Service or item]        [1]   [$0.00]     [$0.00]
[Service or item]        [1]   [$0.00]     [$0.00]

Subtotal                                   [$0.00]
[GST 5% / HST 13%]                         [$0.00]
[PST, only if it applies]                  [$0.00]
Total due (CAD)                            [$0.00]

Payment:  [e-Transfer to email, or bank details]
Terms:    [Net 30, due YYYY-MM-DD]

• The number. Your GST/HST number is your nine-digit business number, RT and a four-digit reference. Print all 15 characters, never a PST or QST number in its place.
• One tax per line. GST/HST and a provincial sales tax go to different governments.
• Mixed invoices. Mark exempt lines (for example “E”) and add a note, “E = exempt”, so the client sees which items were taxed.

Invoice template if you are not registered for GST/HST

This is the same layout with every tax element removed.

INVOICE

Invoice no.:    [2026-001]
Invoice date:   [YYYY-MM-DD]
Due date:       [YYYY-MM-DD]

From:           [Your name or business name]
                [Street, city, province, postal code]
                [Email]  [Phone]

Bill to:        [Client name or business name]
                [Street, city, province, postal code]

Description              Qty   Rate        Amount
[Service or item]        [1]   [$0.00]     [$0.00]

Total due (CAD)                            [$0.00]

Not registered for GST/HST.

Payment:  [e-Transfer to email, or bank details]
Terms:    [Net 30, due YYYY-MM-DD]

Leave the tax line out completely. An unregistered small supplier does not have to collect GST/HST, and the CRA’s small suppliers memorandum says any amount collected as tax, even by someone not registered, still has to be reported and sent to the CRA. Unregistered suppliers also cannot claim input tax credits. The “Not registered” line is optional; it answers the client’s question in advance. When your revenue nears $30,000, registering for GST/HST explains the switch to the first template.

What does a filled-in contractor invoice look like?

Here is the registered template completed by a Nova Scotia carpenter for a deck repair in Dartmouth.

INVOICE

Invoice no.:    2026-087
Invoice date:   2026-10-06
Due date:       2026-10-20

From:           Avery Doucet Carpentry
                Halifax, NS
                avery@example.ca  902-555-0142
GST/HST no.:    123456789 RT0001

Bill to:        Morgan Chen
                12 Example Lane, Dartmouth, NS

Description                  Qty   Rate        Amount
Deck repair, labour (hours)   18   $75.00   $1,350.00
Pressure-treated lumber        1   $865.40    $865.40
  and fasteners
Removal of old decking         1   $120.00    $120.00

Subtotal                                    $2,335.40
HST 14%                                       $326.96
Total due (CAD)                             $2,662.36

Payment:  e-Transfer to avery@example.ca
Terms:    Due within 14 days

Work on a house is supplied where the property is, so a Dartmouth deck carries Nova Scotia’s 14% HST: $2,335.40 × 0.14 = $326.96. The total is over $500, so the client’s name, a description and the terms are all on it. The GST/HST number is an example.

What does a filled-in freelancer invoice look like?

This is the same template completed by a Calgary graphic designer billing a client in Toronto.

INVOICE

Invoice no.:    PS-2026-031
Invoice date:   2026-10-06
Due date:       2026-11-05

From:           Priya Shah Design
                Calgary, AB
                priya@example.ca
GST/HST no.:    987654321 RT0001

Bill to:        Lakeshore Coffee Roasters Inc.
                Toronto, ON

Description                    Qty   Rate         Amount
Logo design, three concepts      1   $1,800.00  $1,800.00
  and final files
Social media templates          10      $45.00    $450.00

Subtotal                                      $2,250.00
HST 13%                                         $292.50
Total due (CAD)                               $2,542.50

Payment:  e-Transfer to priya@example.ca
Terms:    Net 30

Priya lives in Alberta, where only the 5% GST applies, but she charges 13% HST because a service is generally supplied in the province of the client’s address. For a client in Edmonton the line would read “GST 5%: $112.50”; unregistered, she would bill $2,250.00 on the plain template. The arithmetic for every province is in how to calculate GST/HST.

Which date goes on the invoice, and why does it matter?

The invoice date usually decides when the GST/HST on a sale becomes payable, and so which return it goes on.

Under the CRA’s time of liability rules, the tax is payable on the earlier of the day you are paid and the day payment becomes due. Payment becomes due on the earliest of the day you first issue the invoice, the date on the invoice, the day you would have issued it without an undue delay, and the due date in a written agreement.

Example. A quarterly filer on the calendar year finishes a job on March 30 and dates the invoice March 31. The HST goes on the January to March return, even if the client pays in May, and holding the invoice back until April does not move it if the delay is undue.

How do you correct an invoice you have already sent?

Leave the original alone: if the price or tax changes after you invoiced, issue a credit note that refers back to it.

The CRA’s memorandum on refunds and credits of GST/HST says that when you refund or credit tax to a client, you must issue a credit note within a reasonable time, unless the client first issues you a debit note. It must show that it is a credit note, your name and GST/HST number, the client’s name, the date it is issued, and the amount of the tax adjustment.

CREDIT NOTE

Credit note no.:  CN-2026-004
Date issued:      [YYYY-MM-DD]
Refers to:        Invoice [2026-087]

From:             [Your business name]
GST/HST no.:      [123456789 RT0001]
To:               [Client name]

Price reduction                    -[$0.00]
[HST 14%] adjustment               -[$0.00]
Total credit                       -[$0.00]

The “Refers to” line is not on the CRA’s list, but it lets both of you match the credit to the invoice.

…and where does Keel fit?

If you would rather fill in fields than copy text, the free invoice generator builds a PDF in your browser, with a CAD option and one tax-rate field.

Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts, by Ilura Technology OÜ, is an iPhone app that makes invoices as PDFs. An accepted estimate becomes the invoice in one tap, each job keeps its quote, receipts and invoice together, and “who owes you” prepares reminder drafts you review and send; nothing is sent automatically. Records stay on the iPhone: no account, no bank connection, no cloud sync, and an App Store privacy label of “Data Not Collected”.

Keel is free with no invoice limit, and free invoices carry a small “Made with Keel” footer. Keel Lifetime, a one-time purchase ($249.99 USD; the App Store shows your local price), adds custom branding, a signature, premium templates and accountant-ready exports. Keel is a record keeper, not a compliance tool: it does not check invoices against the CRA’s list, file GST/HST returns, connect to the CRA or work out the tax you owe, so check your first PDF against the table above. Keel on the App Store. To compare apps, see invoice software in Canada; more guides are in the Canada hub.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free invoice template for Canada? Yes. Both templates above are free to copy into Word, Google Docs, Excel or Google Sheets; nothing has to be downloaded. The registered version includes your GST/HST number and every detail the CRA lists for sales of $500 or more, so filled in correctly it covers a sale of any size. Use the plain version until you register.

Do I have to write “tax invoice” or “HST invoice” on a Canadian invoice? No. The CRA’s documentary requirements list information, such as your name, the date, the total, your GST/HST number and the tax, but no heading. “Invoice” is enough, because the CRA looks at what the document contains rather than its title. “GST/HST invoice” does no harm if you want the tax status to be obvious.

Do I need my GST/HST number on every invoice? Once you are registered, it is required on invoices of $100 or more; below $100 the CRA’s list does not include it. Put it on every invoice anyway: it costs nothing and saves checking each total. If you are not registered you have no number, so leave the field out rather than showing a provincial sales tax number instead.

How do I make an invoice template in Excel or Google Sheets? Put the same fields in rows, then add formulas: amount = quantity × rate, subtotal = the sum of the amounts, tax = ROUND(subtotal × 0.13, 2) for Ontario HST (0.05 for GST, 0.14 in Nova Scotia, 0.15 in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and PEI), and total = subtotal + tax. Save each invoice as its own PDF with its own number instead of overwriting the master file.

How do I show HST if my price already includes it? You can quote a tax-included price, but on sales of $100 or more the invoice must then state that the price includes GST/HST, along with the rate or amount of tax. To find the tax inside a total, divide by 1 plus the rate: $1,130 ÷ 1.13 = $1,000, so the HST is $130. A separate tax line is clearer for business clients claiming input tax credits.

---

This article is general information, not tax advice. Consult a qualified accountant or tax professional.