Canadian Goods and Services Tax Rebate When Traveling in Canada

As a non-resident visitor, you may plan on diligently collecting your hotel and souvenir receipts to qualify for the Canadian Goods and Services Tax (GST) Rebate when traveling in Canada. The rules allowing you to recoup the tax, however, were changed significantly in April of 2007 as outlined by Taxtips.ca.

Rebate Curtailed

These days, the GST is 5% (down from 7%) and only a partial rebate is available for qualifying tour packages, rules and examples of which can be found in the Canadian Revenue Agency brochure.

Eligible Purchases

Generally speaking, an eligible "tour package" requires that your short-term accommodation (less than a month) be purchased in an all-inclusive package with a qualifying service. For the most part, the eligible “service” is some type of tour transportation or air fare. It is not, however, a hotel shuttle buss.