GST/QST Quick Method in Québec (2026): Rates, Election and Examples

Once your sales pass the small supplier threshold and you register for GST and QST, you have to charge 5% GST and 9.975% QST and remit the difference between the tax you collect and the tax you pay on your expenses. The quick method is an optional shortcut: you still charge the full taxes, but you remit a lower flat percentage of your tax-included sales and stop tracking input tax credits on routine expenses. For many Québec consultants and service providers with low expenses it saves real money every year. For others it costs money. This guide explains who qualifies, the 2026 rates, how to elect, how capital purchases work, and walks through full comparisons for a consultant and a retailer. Figures were checked against Revenu Québec and the CRA on November 9, 2026.

What is the quick method of accounting for GST/QST?

Under the regular method, your net tax for each period is the GST and QST you collected, minus the input tax credits (ITCs, for GST) and input tax refunds (ITRs, for QST) on your business purchases. You need every receipt and a correct tax split on each one.

Under the quick method, you multiply your tax-included sales by a remittance rate set by law, subtract a 1% reduction on the first portion of sales, and remit the result. The rate already builds in an average amount of tax paid on expenses, so you do not claim ITCs or ITRs on operating costs such as rent, phone, software, supplies or fuel. You can still claim them on capital property (see below).

Three things do not change: you charge customers the normal 5% GST and 9.975% QST, you file the same GST/HST and QST returns with Revenu Québec, and you must keep all your sales and purchase documents.

Who can use the quick method in Québec?

According to Revenu Québec, a business can use it if its total annual taxable sales worldwide, including zero-rated sales and the sales of its associates, for any four consecutive fiscal quarters within the last five, do not exceed:

The QST figure is higher only because it is measured with the higher QST rate included; both correspond to roughly $380,950 of sales before tax. Exempt sales, financial services, and sales of real property, capital assets and goodwill are left out of the test.

New businesses can also elect. The CRA says that if you have not been in business for a full year, you can generally still use the method if you are an eligible type of business and expect to stay under the threshold.

Which businesses cannot use the quick method?

• firms that provide legal, accounting or actuarial services;
• firms that provide bookkeeping services or specialize in preparing tax returns;
• firms that provide tax or financial consulting services;
• listed financial institutions;
• charities, qualifying non-profit organizations and selected public service bodies (they have their own special quick method).

Everyone else under the threshold can consider it: IT and marketing consultants, designers, photographers, trades, cleaning companies, restaurants, retailers, online sellers, drivers and many more.

When does the election end?

The election stays in effect year after year until you revoke it, exceed the threshold, or become an excluded type of business. According to the CRA, an annual filer who exceeds $400,000 in the current fiscal year returns to the regular method at the start of the next fiscal year; quarterly and monthly filers follow different switch dates (the start of a later fiscal quarter, depending on when the threshold was exceeded), so watch your sales as you grow.

What are the quick method rates for 2026?

For a business located in Québec making its sales in Québec, Revenu Québec sets two pairs of rates:

The 40% test excludes basic groceries and goods on which you did not pay tax at purchase. If your purchases for resale fall below 40%, you use the services rates even if you sell goods.

The rates apply only to sales made in the normal course of your activities. Do not include zero-rated sales, sales of real property or capital property, or sales to a provincial government or to First Nations members who do not pay the taxes. When you sell land or used equipment on which you claimed capital cost allowance, you remit the full GST and QST collected on that sale. If you also make sales in HST provinces, other rates apply to those sales; the CRA’s guide RC4058 lists them.

The 1% reduction

If you use the quick method from the first day of your fiscal year, or from your registration date, you can deduct 1% of the first portion of your tax-included sales each fiscal year:

• GST: 1% of the first $30,000 of taxable sales including GST, up to $300.
• QST: 1% of the first $31,421 of taxable sales including QST, up to $314.21.

Monthly and quarterly filers apply it period by period until the sales cap is reached. Any unused portion cannot be carried forward. Report the reduction as an ITC adjustment on line 107 of the GST/HST return and as an ITR adjustment on line 207 of the QST return.

The calculation in one quarter (Revenu Québec’s own example)

A cleaning business on the quick method has $20,000 of taxable sales before tax in its first quarter.

The business collected $1,000 of GST and $1,995 of QST from its customers, and keeps the difference to cover the tax it paid on its own expenses.

How do you elect the quick method in Québec? Form FP-2074-V

Because Revenu Québec administers the GST in Québec, a business located in Québec makes one election for both taxes with form FP-2074-V, Election or Revocation of Election Respecting the Quick Method of Accounting. Form GST74 is the CRA version used by businesses outside Québec; you do not file both.

Other election rules:

• The effective date must be the first day of a reporting period. Revenu Québec confirms the election in writing, and you can see it in My Account.
• You must stay on the quick method for at least one year. You revoke by filing the same form.
• According to the CRA, after a revocation you must wait at least one year before electing again.
• The election covers all branches and divisions of the business.
• You do not renew it each year. It stays in effect while you remain eligible.

Timing tip: to get the 1% reduction, the election has to be effective from the first day of your fiscal year or from your registration date. Electing in the middle of the year works, but you lose the reduction for that year.

Can you claim ITCs on capital purchases under the quick method?

Yes. This is the part many owners miss. Under the quick method you cannot claim ITCs or ITRs on most expenses, but Revenu Québec states that you can claim them on land and on property that gives entitlement to capital cost allowance, such as a building, a vehicle, computers or office furniture. Claim them in the return for the period of purchase.

Example: an IT consultant on the quick method buys a $2,000 laptop. She claims $100 of GST and $199.50 of QST in that period’s returns, exactly as she would under the regular method.

Regular method vs. quick method: worked comparisons

The three examples below use full-year figures, a December 31 fiscal year, an election effective January 1 (so the 1% reduction applies), and taxable expenses that are operating costs only. They are illustrations; your own result depends on your real sales and expenses.

Example 1: a Montréal IT consultant with low expenses

Fees billed in Québec: $90,000 before tax. Taxable operating expenses: $8,000 before tax (software, phone, coworking, supplies).

The consultant keeps about $2,959 more per year. That amount is not tax-free: Revenu Québec and the CRA require the tax collected but not remitted to be included in business income. At a combined marginal rate of, say, 40%, the after-tax benefit is still about $1,775. The time saved on receipt-by-receipt tax coding is a bonus.

Example 2: the same consultant with higher expenses

Same $90,000 of fees, but $30,000 of taxable operating expenses (a subcontractor registered for GST/QST, a leased studio, equipment rentals).

Once taxable expenses reach about a third of sales, the regular method wins for this consultant.

Example 3: a boutique retailer

A clothing boutique sells $250,000 of goods before tax. It buys $150,000 of inventory for resale (60% of sales, so it qualifies for the 1.8% and 3.4% rates) and has $20,000 of other taxable expenses. Its tax-included sales are $262,500 for GST and $274,937.50 for QST, under both thresholds.

For this boutique, the regular method is clearly better. Retailers with high-margin products or few taxable expenses beyond inventory can come out ahead; most typical resellers do not.

When does the quick method cost you money?

A quick break-even calculation, based on the rates above and before the 1% reduction, shows the share of sales that taxable operating expenses would have to reach for the regular method to give the same result:

These are our own approximations, not official figures. The quick method usually costs money when:

• your taxable expenses are above the break-even, for example when you pay GST/QST-registered subcontractors or rent a commercial space;
• much of your revenue is zero-rated or exempt, such as exports, basic groceries or exempt services, because you get no credit for tax paid on the related costs (the quick method base excludes zero-rated sales, but your ITCs are gone too);
• you sell mainly to clients outside Québec in ways that change the rates, which complicates the calculation;
• you are in a start-up year with heavy one-time operating expenses, such as a website build or a marketing launch, which are not capital property;
• you are close to the $400,000 threshold and will soon have to switch back.

It also matters which method gives you cleaner books. The quick method does not remove the need to keep receipts or to record the tax correctly as income, so it saves less time than many people expect if your bookkeeping is already monthly.

Should you elect? A five-question checklist

1. Are you an eligible type of business? If you provide accounting, bookkeeping, legal, actuarial, tax preparation or financial consulting services, stop here.
2. Are your tax-included sales safely under $400,000? If you expect to cross it within a year or two, the savings may be short-lived.
3. What share of your sales do taxable operating expenses represent? Under about a quarter for a service business, the quick method usually wins; above a third, it usually loses.
4. Do you have big capital purchases coming? They do not change the answer, because you claim their ITCs and ITRs under both methods.
5. Can you elect from the first day of your fiscal year? If yes, you also get up to $614.21 a year in 1% reductions ($300 for GST and $314.21 for QST). If you are registering now, elect from your registration date.

If you answer yes to the first two and your expenses are low, run the numbers with last year’s totals. A full-year comparison like the ones above takes less than an hour once your books are up to date.

How do you record the quick method in your books?

• Record sales and the GST and QST collected as usual.
• Record expenses including the GST and QST paid; there is no tax receivable on operating costs.
• Each period, the difference between the tax collected and the quick method remittance goes to income (often a "quick method gain" account under other income).
• Capital purchases are recorded with their ITCs and ITRs as under the regular method.
• In QuickBooks Online, set the GST/QST agency to the quick method so the return lines calculate correctly. Our guide to QuickBooks Online setup for a Québec business covers sales tax settings.

Common quick method mistakes

• Applying the rate to sales before tax. The 3.6%/6.6% and 1.8%/3.4% rates apply to sales including the tax.
• Claiming ITCs on operating expenses while on the quick method. Only capital property qualifies.
• Forgetting to claim ITCs on a vehicle or computer because "the quick method means no ITCs".
• Not including the quick method gain in income on the T2125 and TP-80 or the corporate return.
• Filing GST74 with the CRA instead of FP-2074-V with Revenu Québec.
• Missing the election deadline or electing mid-year and losing the 1% reduction.
• Using the reseller rates without meeting the 40% purchases-for-resale test.
• Running the method on autopilot. Re-test it every year; a new subcontractor or lease can flip the result.
• Using it when excluded. Bookkeepers, accountants, tax preparers and financial consultants cannot elect.

How we can help

Every year we run the regular-versus-quick comparison for our self-employed and small business clients, file the FP-2074-V election when it pays, and prepare GST/QST returns monthly, quarterly or annually. Our GST/QST filing service is included in the $650 a month bookkeeping plan, and personal returns for the self-employed start at $300 (personal tax returns). See pricing, or contact us with last year’s sales and expense totals and we will tell you which method costs less. New to sales tax? Start with our GST/QST guide for small businesses and our guide to self-employed deductions in Québec.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Revenu Québec – The Quick Method of Accounting for Calculating GST and QST Remittances
• Revenu Québec – Who can use the Quick Method of Accounting?
• Revenu Québec – Applicable rates (Quick Method)
• Revenu Québec – Electing to use the Quick Method of Accounting
• Revenu Québec – Form FP-2074-V, Election or Revocation of Election Respecting the Quick Method of Accounting
• Revenu Québec – Méthode rapide de calcul des montants de la TPS et de la TVQ à remettre
• CRA – Quick Method of Accounting for GST/HST (RC4058)
• CRA – Form GST74, Election and Revocation of an Election to Use the Quick Method of Accounting

Keep reading

• GST/QST for Québec Small Businesses (2026): How It Works
• Self-Employed Tax in Québec (2026): Rates, Deadlines, T2125, TP-80
• Self-Employed Tax Deductions in Québec: The Complete 2026 List