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There is no worldwide GST-registration threshold. The amount, turnover test and registration deadline depend on the country, your entity or activity, and which sales count as taxable turnover. As of official guidance accessed 13 October 2026, the general threshold is A$75,000 in Australia (A$150,000 for Australian non-profit organisations), C$30,000 for most Canadian businesses under the GST/HST small-supplier test, and £90,000 for UK VAT. Confirm your country and business category before applying any figure.
Start with the jurisdiction and the correct tax
“GST” is not one worldwide rule. Australia and Canada use GST (Canada combines it with HST in participating provinces), while the United Kingdom uses VAT. A threshold from one country cannot be applied to another. Even within a country, charities, public bodies, non-residents, non-profit organisations and particular services can have different tests.
The amount that matters is generally business turnover or taxable supplies, not your personal income, salary or profit. Before calculating anything, identify:
- the country and, where relevant, the subnational tax jurisdiction;
- your legal and organisational type;
- the goods or services you supply and whether they are taxable, exempt, input-taxed or otherwise excluded;
- sales connected with the country under its tax rules;
- the measurement period or forecast period; and
- the date on which the registration duty starts and the filing deadline.
The thresholds below are legal limits, not recommendations. A business can often register voluntarily below the mandatory limit, but registration creates collection, record-keeping and return obligations.
Thresholds at a glance
| Jurisdiction and tax | General threshold | How turnover is measured | Important timing rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia GST | A$75,000 for businesses; A$150,000 for non-profit organisations | Current GST turnover (current month plus preceding 11 months) or projected GST turnover (current month plus following 11 months) | Register within 21 days after becoming aware that turnover will exceed the applicable threshold |
| Canada GST/HST | C$30,000 for most businesses | Taxable supplies over four consecutive calendar quarters, with a separate rule when the limit is exceeded in one quarter | Registration is generally due within 29 days of the effective registration date in the CRA examples and guidance |
| United Kingdom VAT (comparison only) | £90,000 of taxable turnover | Taxable turnover for the preceding 12 months, or an expectation that the next 30 days will exceed the limit | Different effective dates apply to retrospective and prospective tests |
Exchange rates do not make these amounts interchangeable. Use the currency and definitions of the tax authority where your business is required to register.
Australia: when GST registration is compulsory
General A$75,000 test
An Australian business must register when its GST turnover reaches or is expected to reach A$75,000 or more. Australian non-profit organisations have a higher A$150,000 threshold. A new business should register if it expects to reach the relevant threshold during its first year.
The Australian test is based on GST turnover, not profit. The official small-business guidance describes two calculations:
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match- Current GST turnover: the value for the current month plus the preceding 11 months.
- Projected GST turnover: the value for the current month plus the following 11 months.
A business can therefore become liable because its recent twelve-month total is over the threshold or because a reasonable projection shows that the next twelve months will exceed it. Maintain a rolling calculation rather than checking only at year-end.
What counts and what is excluded
The turnover calculation is not simply every dollar deposited into the bank account. The Australian guidance lists exclusions including:
- GST included in sales;
- certain non-taxable payments;
- sales of personal assets;
- input-taxed sales; and
- income not connected with Australia.
Classify each revenue stream before adding it to the test. A sale that is excluded for GST-turnover purposes should not be counted merely because it appears in your accounting software’s gross-revenue report.
Special activities that require registration at any turnover
Some businesses must register even below A$75,000. The Australian guidance specifically identifies:
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- businesses seeking fuel tax credits.
These rules apply regardless of turnover. Non-residents can also face special rules, so an overseas business selling into Australia should not rely on the ordinary domestic threshold without checking its circumstances.
Deadline and consequences
You must register within 21 days of becoming aware that your turnover will go over the threshold. The trigger is awareness of the expected breach, not necessarily the date on which an annual accounts package is prepared.
Once registered, a business generally must include GST in the price of most goods and services it sells, claim eligible GST credits on its purchases and lodge activity statements. Those obligations apply to voluntary registrants as well as businesses that register mandatorily.
Voluntary registration below A$75,000
Registration is optional when the mandatory threshold has not been reached, unless a special activity rule applies. Voluntary registration can make sense where the business has eligible GST-bearing expenses and wants to claim credits, or where customers expect tax invoices. It also means charging GST on most taxable sales, tracking the tax separately and lodging the required activity statements. Compare the compliance work with the value of any credits before electing to register.
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- Identify whether you are a standard business, non-profit organisation, taxi or limousine provider, ride-sourcing operator, fuel-tax-credit claimant or non-resident.
- Recalculate current and projected GST turnover using the Australian exclusions.
- Record the date you first knew the applicable threshold would be exceeded.
- Register within 21 days of that date if registration is compulsory.
- From the effective date, price and invoice taxable sales correctly, retain records and prepare activity statements.
Canada: the C$30,000 GST/HST small-supplier test
Most businesses: four consecutive calendar quarters
For most Canadian businesses, the CRA small-supplier threshold is C$30,000 of taxable supplies measured over four consecutive calendar quarters. “Four quarters” is a rolling sequence of calendar quarters, not necessarily your fiscal year. Monitor each quarter as it closes and retain the figures used in the calculation.
If the limit is exceeded in one quarter
When taxable supplies exceed C$30,000 in a single calendar quarter, the business stops being a small supplier on the supply that crosses the limit. GST/HST must be charged on that supply, so waiting until the next month or next quarter can under-collect tax.
If the limit is exceeded across several quarters
If the business exceeds C$30,000 over the previous four or fewer consecutive quarters but does not exceed it in one quarter, it generally ceases to qualify as a small supplier at the end of the month following the quarter in which the limit was crossed. GST/HST charging begins on the effective registration date. The CRA guidance and examples state that registration is due within 29 days of that effective date.
These two paths produce different charging dates. A bookkeeper should identify whether the breach occurred in one quarter or accumulated over multiple quarters before issuing invoices that include GST/HST.
Entities with different tests
The C$30,000 rule is not universal. The CRA describes separate tests for charities, public institutions and public service bodies. Its guidance includes a C$50,000 taxable-supplies threshold and, for certain charity or public-institution cases, a C$250,000 gross-revenue test. If your organisation falls into one of those categories, use the applicable CRA test instead of the ordinary small-supplier calculation.
Voluntary registration
A business that remains a small supplier may register voluntarily when it makes taxable supplies in Canada. The CRA says the effective date is usually the date of the request and can potentially be up to 30 days earlier. Voluntary registrants may need to remain registered for at least one year before cancelling.
Voluntary registration lets the business operate inside the GST/HST system, but it also means collecting tax, meeting filing requirements and maintaining the records needed to support the account. Do not register solely because revenue is close to C$30,000 unless the administrative cost and commercial benefit have been considered.
Information needed to register
The CRA registration process asks for business and owner details, addresses, the business type and a description of the major business activity. Online registration is available, with alternative routes described by the CRA. Prepare consistent legal-name, address and activity information before starting so the account matches your other tax records.
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Canadian registration checklist
- Classify your supplies and identify the four-quarter measurement period.
- Check whether you exceeded C$30,000 in one quarter or across several quarters.
- For a single-quarter breach, charge GST/HST on the supply that crosses the limit.
- For a multi-quarter breach, determine the effective date at the end of the month following the relevant quarter.
- Register within 29 days of the effective date described in the CRA guidance.
- If registering voluntarily, record the request date and the possible 30-day earlier effective date, and plan for the minimum registration period before cancellation.
United Kingdom comparison: this is VAT, not GST
UK businesses use VAT terminology. The rule is included here only to prevent a common cross-border mistake: do not describe the UK threshold as a GST threshold.
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Two UK VAT tests
VAT registration is required when taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000. The retrospective test looks back over a rolling twelve-month period, not just the tax year.
A separate prospective test applies when the business realises that taxable turnover will exceed £90,000 in the next 30 days. The effective registration date is the date the business realised it would cross the threshold.
Application and effective dates
For the retrospective test, GOV.UK says to apply within 30 days after the end of the month in which the threshold was exceeded. Registration takes effect on the first day of the second month after the threshold was exceeded. The prospective test instead uses the date of realisation as the effective date. Keep contemporaneous records showing when the forecast became clear.
How to decide whether a sale belongs in your calculation
Most threshold errors come from using the wrong sales total or time window. Use this sequence before adding figures:
- Separate business and non-business receipts. Personal-asset sales and other non-business amounts may be excluded under the local rule.
- Classify the supply. Mark taxable, exempt, input-taxed, zero-rated or otherwise excluded items according to the jurisdiction’s definitions.
- Check the connection to the country. Cross-border income may not be treated as domestic turnover in the same way as local sales.
- Remove tax already included where required. Australia’s GST-turnover guidance expressly excludes GST included in sales.
- Apply the correct window. Australia uses current and projected twelve-month tests; Canada uses consecutive calendar quarters; the UK uses a previous-twelve-month and next-30-day test.
- Document the trigger date. Save the report, forecast and invoice that show when the threshold was crossed or expected to be crossed.
Common mistakes and how to prevent them
- Using profit instead of turnover: a low-margin business can still exceed a registration threshold.
- Checking only once a year: rolling and quarterly tests can trigger registration mid-year.
- Applying the ordinary threshold to a special entity: Australian non-profits, Canadian charities and public bodies have distinct rules.
- Ignoring activity-based exceptions: Australian taxi, limousine, ride-sourcing and fuel-tax-credit cases can require registration at any turnover.
- Charging tax too late: in Canada, a single-quarter breach makes the crossing supply taxable.
- Confusing VAT and GST: use the UK VAT test for UK operations, not an Australian or Canadian GST figure.
- Assuming voluntary registration is free of obligations: registration brings collection, records and returns even below the mandatory limit.
- Relying on an old threshold: government pages can change; verify the current figure and effective-date rule before filing.
A practical monitoring system for a small business
Set up a monthly dashboard with separate columns for taxable sales, excluded sales, tax included in prices, country connection and the applicable rolling or quarterly total. At each close:
- reconcile the dashboard to invoices and bank records;
- update the forward forecast for the relevant jurisdiction;
- flag the date on which a threshold is crossed or becomes reasonably expected;
- review pricing and invoice templates before the effective date; and
- store the calculation supporting the registration decision.
This record is useful whether the conclusion is “register now,” “registration is optional” or “the threshold has not been reached.”
When specialist advice is warranted
Consult the relevant tax authority or a qualified local tax professional when you have cross-border sales, more than one entity, exempt or input-taxed activities, a charity or public-body structure, non-resident status, ride-sourcing or passenger transport, or uncertainty about the date on which you knew the threshold would be exceeded. Those facts can change both the calculation and the effective registration date.
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The official guidance used for the figures in this article was accessed on 13 October 2026. Tax authorities can revise thresholds, definitions and deadlines, so check the current Australian Government, Canada Revenue Agency or GOV.UK guidance immediately before registering or charging tax.
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