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Manitoba RST vs GST: what your business actually has to charge

Posted by:

Samuel

On:

August 29, 2026

Tax and Regulatory Compliance

Tax & Regulatory Compliance

7% or 12%? Manitoba sales tax, sorted.

Nearly every new Manitoba business gets this wrong at least once. Here’s the whole thing in about four minutes.

BOGS Accounting5 min readUpdated August 2026

You charge 12%. But it isn’t one tax — it’s two, run by two different governments, with two sets of rules. Treating them as one thing is the most common bookkeeping mistake we see in Manitoba, and it quietly costs money in both directions.

GST

Federal. Run by the CRA. You get it back on business purchases through input tax credits.

RST

Provincial. Run by Manitoba Finance. You don’t get it back. It’s a cost, not a receivable.

The one thing to remember

GST comes back. RST doesn’t. Post them to the same account and your books will be wrong in a way that takes months to unpick.

One more detail people miss: RST is calculated before GST, not on top of it. On a $100 sale that’s $5 GST and $7 RST. Never $7.35. You don’t charge tax on tax.

The $30,000 threshold — and who it doesn’t cover

Under $30,000 in annual taxable sales, you generally don’t register or collect RST. You pay it on your own purchases and build it into your prices. Your invoice must say RST is included — and must not show it as a separate line.

The exception has exceptions

You can’t use the small-business exemption if you:

Buy from out-of-province suppliers who don’t charge Manitoba RST
Sell tobacco or liquor
Are an out-of-province business reselling goods you haven’t paid Manitoba RST on

That first one catches a lot of retailers and online sellers who assume they’re safely under the line. Source stock from Ontario or the US, and the exemption is off the table no matter what your revenue is.

Cross $30,000 and you get one month to register and start collecting. It’s free, at manitoba.ca/TAXcess.

The rule almost nobody knows

The $800 rule

Bring goods into Manitoba from outside the province worth $800 or more, in two or more months of the same calendar year, and you must register with Manitoba Finance and self-assess RST on them.

It applies whether or not you’re making taxable sales. This is the obligation we most often find has been missed — sometimes for years.

How often you file

Average RST per monthYou file

$5,000 or moreMonthly

$500 – $4,999Quarterly

Under $500Annually

Everything is due by 4:30 p.m. on the 20th of the month after your period ends. Monthly filers must use TAXcess — paper isn’t an option.

File nil returns. No sales that period? You still have to file. Skipping it earns you a penalty for a period where you owed nothing.

And note your RST schedule has nothing to do with your GST schedule — the CRA sets that separately. Plenty of businesses end up filing one quarterly and the other monthly. Both deadlines are yours to track.

Keep everything for seven years

Manitoba Finance requires records for the current fiscal year plus the six before it. General ledgers, indefinitely. That’s longer than most owners expect — and “I had it, but we changed accounting systems” isn’t an answer an auditor accepts.

The short version

GST 5%, federal, recoverable
RST 7%, provincial, not recoverable
RST is calculated before GST — no tax on tax
The $30,000 exemption has real exclusions
$800+ from out of province, twice a year, means registering
Always file nil returns
Keep records seven years

Not sure which side of the line you’re on?

If you suspect you’ve been treating RST as recoverable, or you’re not sure whether the threshold covers you, it’s cheaper to check now than to unpick it later.

Book a free consultation →

No obligation. 30 minutes.

General information about Manitoba Retail Sales Tax, not advice for your situation. Rules change and exceptions apply. For the authoritative wording see The Retail Sales Tax Act and Manitoba Finance’s Information Bulletin RST 004, or call Manitoba Finance at 204-945-5603. Current as of August 2026.

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