One parcel, thirteen provinces and territories.

The rule that surprises people: Canada taxes the stack

US duty is charged on the item value. Canada charges duty on the item too — but the import tax is charged on item + freight + duty. Every line above it raises the base the tax is applied to. Then your province, not the federal government alone, sets the percentage.

One parcel, province by province

Our worked example, used across this guide set: item $29.89, freight $1.99, pet-supplies duty 6% = $1.79. That makes the tax base $33.67.

Province / territory	Tax on the stack	Tax	Delivered
Alberta, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon	GST 5%	$1.68	$35.35
Saskatchewan	GST 5% + PST 6%	$3.70	$37.37
British Columbia	GST 5% + PST 7%	$4.04	$37.71
Manitoba	GST 5% + RST 7%	$4.04	$37.71
Ontario	HST 13%	$4.38	$38.05
Nova Scotia	HST 14%	$4.71	$38.38
Quebec	GST 5% + QST 9.975%	$5.04	$38.71
New Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Prince Edward Island	HST 15%	$5.05	$38.72

Same product, same freight, same duty — and a $3.37 spread between the lowest-tax and the highest-tax province, about 9% of the delivered price. On one parcel that is a rounding error; across a catalogue of ten thousand units it is a line in your P&L. Figures are in CAD, converted from the item price at the live rate the engine used; as everywhere in these guides, an estimate, not a customs ruling.

The tax is often bigger than the duty

Here the duty is $1.79 and Ontario's tax is $4.38 — more than twice the duty. That is the normal shape in Canada: most duty rates are single digits, and the tax lands on top of everything. Sellers who price the duty and forget the compounding tax are the ones surprised at the border.

Where duty is zero but tax is not

Two things are worth knowing, even though they do not change the table above. First, some classes are duty-free in Canada — electronics, phone accessories and toys sit at 0% — but the tax still applies, because it is charged on item + freight + duty and that base is never zero. Second, the US / Mexico courier lane has a middle zone: parcels between CAD 40 and CAD 150 from the US or Mexico are duty-free but still taxed. Below CAD 20 — courier from other countries, or mail from anywhere — nothing is charged. Above the thresholds, duty and tax both apply. Route and value decide which lane you are in, and that is worth settling before you commit a whole product line to one landed-cost assumption.

What to do with this, as a seller

• Price per province, not per country. A single "Canada price" under-charges the Maritimes or over-charges Alberta — usually both.
• "Free shipping" does not remove the tax. Zeroing freight lowers the tax base; the item and the duty are still taxed.
• Currency is part of the number. You buy in USD and sell in CAD. We use a live USD→CAD rate and, if the rate providers are unreachable, a dated fallback labelled as such — the rate used is printed next to the figure.

Pick your province on the free tool and the same breakdown prints for the product you are actually buying; Pro prices unlimited products in both markets. Every figure is an estimate — not a customs ruling.

Related

Canada: duty, thresholds and tax — the full rules · The four-line landed-cost recipe · The US side of the border, parcel by parcel

Duty figures here are estimates with an accuracy promise, not a customs ruling. Rates and trade remedies are in flux — every number our tool shows carries a confidence band and an as-of date. See the sample report for exactly what you get.