Once your freelance income crosses $30,000 CAD (or £90,000 in the UK), you're required to register for GST/HST or VAT — and your invoices must meet specific legal requirements. Miss a mandatory field and your client can't claim their input tax credit, which means they'll reject the invoice and ask you to reissue it.
This guide covers the registration thresholds, every mandatory field on a compliant invoice, the simplified vs full invoice rules, and how international clients affect your tax obligations. Canadian and UK rules are covered in detail; Australian requirements are included where relevant.
Quick answer: what must a GST/HST invoice show?
A Canadian invoice of $500 or more must show nine things: your business name, your GST/HST registration number, the invoice date, the buyer's name, a description of what you supplied, the terms of payment, the amount before tax, the GST/HST rate, and the GST/HST amount shown separately. Below $500 the CRA asks for less — the full list is only required at the top tier.
- Under $100 — supplier name, date, total amount.
- $100 to $499.99 — the above, plus your GST/HST registration number and either the tax amount or a statement that tax is included with the rate.
- $500 or more — the above, plus the buyer's name, a description of the supply, and the terms of payment.
These are the CRA's input tax credit information thresholds, raised from $30 and $150 to $100 and $500 in 2021. Educational information, not tax advice — confirm with your tax professional.
When You're Required to Register for GST/HST — The $30,000 Threshold
The CRA small supplier threshold is $30,000 CAD in worldwide taxable supplies over any 4 consecutive calendar quarters. When your revenue in any rolling four-quarter window exceeds $30,000, you must register and begin charging GST/HST on subsequent invoices.
What triggers the clock: the quarter in which you exceed the threshold. If your revenue hit $31,000 in Q2 2026, you must register before the end of Q2 2026 and start charging GST/HST on invoices issued after that date.
Voluntary registration: you can register before hitting $30,000. The main reason to do so is input tax credits — every dollar of GST/HST you paid on business purchases (software, equipment, professional services) is recoverable once you're registered. If you're buying significant business equipment in your first year, voluntary registration can put real money back in your pocket.
Exclusions: some supplies are exempt (certain financial services, health services, residential rent). Most freelance professional services — consulting, design, writing, marketing, development — are taxable supplies.
Australia: the GST registration threshold is $75,000 AUD in taxable supplies per year. Same principle: exceed the threshold, register with the ATO, start charging 10% GST.
UK: the VAT registration threshold for 2026 is £90,000 in taxable supplies in the previous 12 months (or when you reasonably expect to exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days).
What a Proper GST/HST Invoice Must Show
For invoices of $500 or more, the CRA requires all of the following. Missing any field means the client cannot claim their input tax credit (ITC) — they will ask you to reissue the invoice with the missing information.
- Your legal business name — exactly as registered with CRA
- Your GST/HST registration number — your Business Number (BN) with the RT program identifier suffix (e.g., 123456789 RT0001)
- Invoice date — the date the invoice is issued
- Invoice number — sequential. Not named in the CRA's input tax credit information rules, but standard practice and expected by every client's bookkeeper
- Recipient name — the client's legal name, trading name, or the name of their authorized agent
- Terms of payment — for example "Net 30" or "due on receipt". This one is genuinely required at the $500 tier and is the field freelancers most often leave off
- Description of the supply — what services were provided, with enough detail that the CRA could verify the nature of the taxable supply
- Amount before tax — the net amount for your services or goods
- GST/HST rate applied — the applicable rate (5% GST in Alberta, 13% HST in Ontario, 15% HST in Atlantic provinces, etc.)
- GST/HST amount — the dollar amount of tax collected, shown separately from the net amount
Provincial rates: Alberta 5% GST, Ontario 13% HST, New Brunswick / Newfoundland and Labrador / PEI 15% HST, Nova Scotia 14% HST (reduced from 15% on April 1, 2025). British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec are not HST provinces — they charge 5% GST federally plus a separate provincial tax that is billed on its own line: BC 7% PST, Manitoba 7% RST, Saskatchewan 6% PST, Quebec 9.975% QST. Only the GST/HST portion is an input tax credit; PST and RST are not recoverable, and QST is recovered separately through Revenu Québec.
ExpenseBot's invoice tool stores your registration number and its label once in your billing profile and carries them onto every invoice you generate. It does not guess the rate for you: it asks you to confirm the tax label and rate before the invoice is produced, and it refuses to generate an invoice that charges GST/HST while no registration number is on file. That check exists because charging tax you are not registered to collect is the more expensive mistake.
Simplified vs Full Invoice Rules
The CRA sets three tiers based on the total amount on the document. Strictly, these are the input tax credit information requirements — the minimum a document must show for your customer to claim back the tax. They are the practical invoice rules, because an invoice that fails them gets sent back.
These thresholds changed. They were $30 and $150 for years, and were raised to $100 and $500 effective April 20, 2021. Guidance still circulating online — and older versions of this page — quotes the retired figures.
| Invoice Amount | Required Fields |
|---|---|
| Under $100 CAD | Supplier's business or trading name, the invoice date, and the total amount paid or payable. No registration number required. |
| $100 – $499.99 CAD | The above, plus your GST/HST registration number and either the tax amount or a clear statement that the total includes GST/HST with the rate applied. No recipient name required. |
| $500 CAD or more | Everything above, plus the recipient's name (or trading name, or authorized agent), a description sufficient to identify what was supplied, and the terms of payment. |
For freelance professional services, almost all invoices exceed $500, so the full invoice is the practical default. The lower tiers matter mostly on the receiving side — they are what lets you claim an input tax credit on a $12 parking receipt or a $60 software charge that carries no registration number.
The safest habit is to ignore the tiers when you issue: put every field on every invoice. The tiers are worth knowing when you are the buyer, deciding whether a thin receipt in your records is good enough to support a claim.
UK VAT Invoice Requirements
UK VAT-registered freelancers must issue a full VAT invoice for all B2B transactions (i.e., to any VAT-registered client). The 13 mandatory fields for a full VAT invoice are:
- The words "VAT Invoice"
- Your business name and address
- Your VAT registration number
- The invoice date
- A sequential invoice number
- The client's name and address
- The client's VAT number (for their records)
- Description of the services supplied
- The supply date (tax point date)
- The net amount (ex-VAT)
- The VAT rate applied (20% standard, 5% reduced, or 0% zero-rated)
- The VAT amount
- The gross amount (including VAT)
Making Tax Digital (MTD): since April 2022, all VAT-registered businesses must keep digital records and submit VAT returns via MTD-compatible software. Manual spreadsheet submissions are no longer accepted. ExpenseBot prepares the underlying records and an SA103F worksheet you or your accountant work from — it does not submit MTD updates or file your return, and it is not a substitute for the digital records, quarterly updates and final declaration MTD requires.
Flat Rate Scheme: if you're on the UK VAT Flat Rate Scheme, you charge clients the standard 20% VAT but remit a lower flat rate percentage (varies by industry — typically 12-16% for professional services). You keep the difference. Your invoices still show 20% VAT to the client; the accounting difference happens at return time.
Collecting Tax From International Clients
Canadian freelancers billing US clients: services exported to non-resident clients outside Canada are generally zero-rated at 0% GST/HST. You do not charge your US client Canadian tax. However, zero-rating still requires you to report the supply on your GST/HST return — you show the revenue and the 0% rate.
Exceptions to zero-rating:
- Services physically performed in Canada (you did the work on Canadian soil)
- Services related to Canadian real property (e.g., consulting on a Canadian building project)
- Certain digital services supplied to non-registered non-residents in Canada
When in doubt about a specific service type, consult CRA's guide on exported services or a Canadian accountant.
UK freelancers billing non-UK clients: services to business clients outside the UK are generally outside the scope of UK VAT (the "place of supply" rules determine that the supply occurs in the client's country). You don't charge UK VAT to US or EU clients for most professional services. However, services to EU consumers (not registered businesses) may be subject to EU VAT under digital services rules — this applies primarily to software and digital products, less commonly to professional consulting.
Input tax credits and ITCs: even when zero-rating your exports, you can still claim the GST/HST or VAT you paid on your business expenses as input tax credits. Registered status still benefits you on the input side even when output is zero-rated.
GST/HST vs VAT vs Sales Tax — What Changes on the Invoice
GST, HST and VAT are the same machine with different labels: tax is charged at each stage and reclaimed by registered businesses, so only the final consumer bears it. US sales tax is the odd one out — it is charged once at retail and there is no equivalent of an input tax credit, which is why a US freelancer's invoice usually shows no tax line at all.
| Region | Label and rate | Registration threshold | What the invoice must carry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | GST 5%, or HST 13–15% in participating provinces | $30,000 CAD over four consecutive quarters | Business Number with RT suffix; fields scale at the $100 and $500 tiers |
| United Kingdom | VAT 20% standard, 5% reduced, 0% zero-rated | £90,000 in the previous 12 months | Headed "VAT Invoice"; VAT number, supply date, client VAT number — 13 fields |
| Australia | GST 10% | $75,000 AUD per year | Headed "Tax Invoice"; ABN, and the GST amount or a statement that the total includes GST |
| United States | State and local sales tax; services often exempt | Varies by state; no federal equivalent | No input tax credit mechanism — most freelance service invoices carry no tax line |
The practical consequence for a Canadian or UK freelancer billing abroad: the tax line on your invoice is decided by where the supply is treated as happening, not by where you are sitting. That is the place-of-supply question covered in the previous section. Rates and thresholds move — verify the current figure with the CRA, HMRC or the ATO before you rely on it, and confirm your own position with your tax professional.
How ExpenseBot Handles GST/HST on Receipts
When ExpenseBot scans a Canadian receipt, it automatically extracts and separates the tax amount from the base expense. A $113 receipt at 13% HST shows up as $100 in expenses + $13 in HST — both tracked separately.
This separation matters for two reasons:
- Input tax credits: the $13 HST you paid on that $113 receipt is recoverable if you're registered. ExpenseBot's T2125 Schedule A export shows your ITC-eligible tax amounts separately from the base expense amounts, so your accountant or your own return preparation is straightforward.
- Accurate expense deductions: on Schedule T2125 or Schedule C, the deductible amount is the pre-tax expense, not the gross with tax. If you're registered and claiming an ITC, you deduct $100 and recover $13 separately. If you're not registered, you deduct the full $113. ExpenseBot reduces the deductible expense base by the credit it books, so the two numbers can't be double-counted.
- Partial claims are handled: the credit is computed per receipt as tax paid multiplied by your business-use percentage and the category's deductible percentage. A $200 client lunch in Ontario carries $26 HST, but meals are generally 50% deductible, so the claimable credit is $13 — not $26.
ExpenseBot is an expense tracker that reads the GST/HST off each receipt and computes the input tax credit per receipt, so the figure you transcribe onto your GST/HST return comes from the receipts themselves rather than a year-end estimate. Those credit columns appear on freelancer-mode reports for Canada; the same engine produces CGST and IGST lines for GSTR-3B in India.
What it does not do: ExpenseBot is not a general ledger, it does not do double-entry bookkeeping, and it does not file anything. It will not submit your GST34 return, your Self Assessment, or an MTD update. It computes and displays the numbers; you or your bookkeeper file them. The full year-end tax workbook is a paid feature.
For Canadian expense tracking, see the full Canada guide. For the T2125 business expense form, see T2125 expense tracker. For billing clients with the correct GST/HST or VAT on rebilled expenses, see bill client invoice. To see how the credits accumulate across a filing period, see the input tax credit tracker.
This page covers what a compliant invoice must show. If you need to build an invoice from expenses you have already captured — rebilling a client for costs and applying the right tax on top — that is a different job, covered in how to create a GST/HST or VAT invoice from your expense receipts.
Educational tax information, not tax advice. Rates, thresholds and documentary requirements change — confirm your own position with the CRA, HMRC, the ATO or your tax professional before filing.