Canadian car tax calculator

The tax is not always charged on what you paid

This is the part that catches people, and it happens mostly on private sales. Buy a car from a person in any of the eight provinces covered here and the province looks up what the car is worth, then taxes the greater of that and what you paid. Only Alberta and the three territories, with no provincial sales tax, leave a private sale alone.

Ontario charges 13% RST on the greater of the price you paid and the wholesale value in the Canadian Red Book. Pay $15,000 for a car the Red Book values at $19,000 and you are taxed on $19,000: $2,470 instead of $1,950, $520 more than the price suggests. Where the Red Book value is under $1,000 the price governs, and a damaged car can be appraised by a licensed dealer or a Ministry of Finance appraiser instead.

British Columbia does the same with the average wholesale value: 12% PST on the greater of that and the price. A $20,000 private purchase of a car worth $24,000 wholesale costs $2,880 of PST, not $2,400. A car genuinely worth less can be taxed on its appraised value with a Motor Vehicle Appraisal Form (FIN 320).

Quebec uses its estimated value, which Revenu Québec defines as the average wholesale price in the Hebdo guide minus $500, at 9.975% QST. Saskatchewan uses the Canadian Red Book average retail price — retail, not wholesale — at 6% PST, and exempts a private purchase of $5,000 or less when the Red Book value is not above $5,000 either. Manitoba uses the Canadian Black Book average wholesale price at 7% RST, with the price governing below $1,000 of wholesale value.

The Atlantic provinces tax a private sale separately from the HST a dealer charges, at close to the same rate: Nova Scotia 14% Nova Scotia Sales Tax, Newfoundland and Labrador 15% RST and Prince Edward Island 15% RST, each on the greater of the price and the Canadian Red Book average wholesale value. Newfoundland and Labrador uses the price when that value is $1,200 or less, and will tax a lower price as paid if buyer and seller both swear an affidavit to it; Prince Edward Island lets a written appraisal replace the Red Book value. A $20,000 private purchase of a car worth $24,000 wholesale in Nova Scotia is taxed on $24,000: $3,360.

And in one province it follows you onto the dealer's lot. Quebec taxes a used car bought from a dealer on the greater of the price and the estimated value too: $15,000 for a car whose estimated value is $17,500 ($18,000 wholesale less $500) is taxed on $17,500 for the QST, and the GST stays on the $15,000 price — $2,496 in all. Everywhere else a dealer taxes the invoice.

The practical consequence is the same in all of them: agreeing a low price on paper does not lower the tax, because the province never looks at the paper. Enter the book value in the calculator above and you will see what you will actually be asked for at the counter.

And buying privately is not automatically cheaper

The received wisdom is that private sales dodge the tax. They do not — every province taxes them — and in British Columbia the arithmetic is deliberately arranged so that it makes almost no difference.

A B.C. private sale carries 12% PST and no GST, because a private seller is not a registrant. A dealer sale carries 7% PST plus 5% GST. On $40,000 paid at or above wholesale value: $4,800 privately against $4,800 from a dealer. Identical, to the dollar — as long as you did not get a bargain, because the private sale is taxed on the average wholesale value when that is higher.

Above $55,000 the dealer rate starts to climb in one-point steps — 8%, then 9%, then 10% — while the private rate stays at 12%. And at $125,000 both jump to 15%, at $150,000 to 20%. Since the dealer also charges GST on top, the private buyer wins at the expensive end: on $130,000 it is $19,500 privately against $32,300 from a dealer, a difference of $12,800.

Ontario works the same way. 13% either way, but the dealer taxes the invoice and the private sale taxes the Red Book. So private buying is cheaper only when you pay at or above book value — which is to say, when there was no bargain to begin with.

Alberta and the three territories are the exception: no provincial sales tax, and a private seller does not charge GST, so a used car bought from a person there carries no sales tax at all. From a dealer it is the 5% GST.

Your trade-in is worth its price plus the tax it saves

Hand the dealer your old car as part of the payment and in every province the sales tax is charged on the difference, not on the sticker. The CRA's rule is that when a registered dealer takes a used car in trade from someone who does not charge tax on it — an ordinary owner — the GST or HST is charged on the price minus the trade-in allowance; its own example is a $25,000 car, a $10,000 trade-in and GST on $15,000. The four provinces with a sales tax of their own do the same with theirs.

So a trade-in is worth more than the number on it. On a $40,000 car with a $15,000 trade-in, the tax saved runs from $750 in Alberta, where only the 5% GST applies, to $2,246 in Quebec. In Ontario the 13% HST falls on $25,000 and comes to $3,250 instead of $5,200 — $1,950 saved. Selling the old car yourself for the same $15,000 would have to beat the trade-in by at least that much to come out ahead.

British Columbia adds a twist: the reduction lowers the taxable price but not the rate, which is set by the price before the trade-in. The bulletin's own example is a $60,000 truck with a $25,000 trade-in — 10% PST, because of the $60,000 price, charged on $35,000: $3,500.

Between private individuals it depends on the province. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island reduce the tax by a trade-in on a private sale too — in Saskatchewan the $40,000 car with a $15,000 trade-in is taxed $1,500, and in Manitoba the wholesale value is not used at all once there is a trade-in. Ontario and Quebec do not: Ontario says in terms that a trade of any nature will not decrease the value on which RST applies, so the same deal privately costs $5,200 there, and in Quebec each individual in a swap pays QST on the greater of the price and the estimated value of the car they receive.

The luxury tax ignores it. The CRA's own example is a $150,000 car paid with a $50,000 trade-in and $100,000 of cash: the luxury tax is worked out on the whole $150,000 — $10,000 — because a trade-in is part of what the dealer is paid. The HST still falls on the net amount, so on that car in Ontario the trade-in saves $6,500 of HST and nothing of luxury tax.

The conditions are the same everywhere that allows it: the car traded in must be yours, for personal use, of the same general kind, with the provincial tax paid on it, and taken in trade in the same agreement. A dealer who buys your car outright and then sells you another is two sales, and the second is taxed in full.

British Columbia's electric thresholds run out on 22 February 2027

B.C. does not give zero-emission vehicles a lower rate. It gives them higher thresholds, which amounts to the same thing in the band where it matters: the 8% step starts at $75,000 for a ZEV instead of $55,000, and the 10% band runs to $124,999 from $77,000 rather than $57,000.

On a $70,000 car that is $8,400 for a ZEV against $10,500 for a petrol equivalent — $2,100 of difference created purely by where a threshold sits.

It has an end date. The bulletin says these rates run until 22 February 2027, after which they return to the old ones. If you are choosing between this year and next on a ZEV above $75,000, that date is worth more than most of the incentives being advertised.

The same $25,000 car from a dealer, in all thirteen

A dealer sale is an ordinary taxable supply, so the rate is simply the province's GST, HST or GST-plus-PST. Cheapest first:

1. Alberta — $26,250, $1,250 of tax at 5%.

2. Northwest Territories — $26,250, $1,250 of tax at 5%.

3. Nunavut — $26,250, $1,250 of tax at 5%.

4. Yukon — $26,250, $1,250 of tax at 5%.

5. Saskatchewan — $27,750, $2,750 of tax at 11%.

6. British Columbia — $28,000, $3,000 of tax at 12%.

7. Manitoba — $28,000, $3,000 of tax at 12%.

8. Ontario — $28,250, $3,250 of tax at 13%.

9. Nova Scotia — $28,500, $3,500 of tax at 14%.

10. Quebec — $28,744, $3,744 of tax at 14.975%.

11. New Brunswick — $28,750, $3,750 of tax at 15%.

12. Newfoundland and Labrador — $28,750, $3,750 of tax at 15%.

13. Prince Edward Island — $28,750, $3,750 of tax at 15%.

The spread on a $25,000 car is $2,500, and it is the same spread as on any other purchase — this is not a vehicle rule, it is the ordinary sales tax. Where vehicles become their own subject is the private sale, and that is where the provinces diverge.

Nobody hands the tax to the seller

On a private sale you do not pay the tax to the person selling you the car. You pay it to the province when you register, which means it lands after the handshake and is easy to forget in a budget.

Ontario — collected by ServiceOntario, when you register the vehicle.

British Columbia — collected by ICBC, when you register the vehicle.

Quebec — collected by the SAAQ, when the registration is transferred.

Saskatchewan — collected by SGI or a motor licence issuer, when you register the vehicle.

Manitoba — collected by Manitoba Public Insurance or an Autopac agent, when you register the vehicle.

Nova Scotia — collected by Access Nova Scotia, when you register the vehicle.

Newfoundland and Labrador — collected by Motor Registration, when you register or transfer the vehicle.

Prince Edward Island — collected by Access PEI or the Department of Finance, when you register the vehicle.

In Alberta and the three territories there is nothing to collect on a private sale.

That timing matters for a reason beyond budgeting: the amount is decided at the counter, by the province's own valuation, not by your bill of sale. If the figure surprises you there, the appraisal route is the remedy and it has to be done properly — by a licensed dealer or an authorised appraiser, on the province's own form.

Above $100,000 a federal tax appears that no province charges

The Select Luxury Items Tax Act added a tax that sits on top of everything above and is the same in all thirteen jurisdictions, because it is federal. It applies to a subject vehicle priced above $100,000, and the formula is peculiar enough to be worth writing out:

The lesser of 10% of the price, and 20% of whatever the price is above $100,000.

Two rules competing produces a crossover, and the crossover is exactly $200,000 — it is where 10% of the price and 20% of the excess come to the same $20,000. Below it the excess rule wins, above it the flat rule does, and that has a consequence almost nobody states: the effective rate climbs from nothing to 10% and then stops.

Which you can see in four prices. At $100,001 the tax is $0.20 — one dollar over the line costs twenty cents. At $150,000 it is $10,000, an effective 6.667%. At $200,000 it is $20,000, 10%. And at $1,000,000 it is $100,000 — still 10%. A million-dollar car pays the same proportion as a two-hundred-thousand-dollar one. It is a luxury tax with a ceiling.

A subject vehicle is a road vehicle with seating for no more than 10, a gross vehicle weight rating of 3,856 kg or less, and a date of manufacture after 2018. Out of it come an ambulance, a hearse, a motor vehicle clearly marked for policing activities, a motor vehicle clearly marked and equipped for emergency medical or fire response activities — and a recreational vehicle carrying at least four of the listed amenities. A vehicle registered with a government before September 2022, with possession transferred by then, is outside the tax altogether, which is why an older car does not acquire it on resale.

And the part that changes what you should do: the person liable is the registered vendor, not the buyer — except where the vendor is the Crown, an agent of the Crown, an Indigenous governing body or a foreign representative, when the purchaser becomes liable instead. A private individual reselling their own car is not a registered vendor, so a private sale above $100,000 carries no luxury tax at all.

And then the GST is charged on the luxury tax

This is not a rounding detail. The Canada Revenue Agency states it plainly — the applicable GST/HST is applied to the final sale price inclusive of the luxury tax — and publishes a worked example in which a $200,000 vehicle with $14,000 of improvements and fees attracts $21,400 of luxury tax, and the HST is then charged on a subtotal that has that $21,400 inside it.

So take a $150,000 car from an Ontario dealer. The luxury tax is $10,000. The HST is not $19,500 — 13% of the sticker — but $20,800, because it is charged on $160,000. The luxury tax costs $10,000 and then costs a further $1,300 in HST on itself. Total tax on the purchase: $30,800, an effective 20.533% on the price.

The same car bought privately in Ontario is taxed at 13% RST on the price with no GST and no luxury tax — $19,500, or $11,300 less than the dealer. Below $100,000 those two routes come out identical in Ontario, by design. Above it they stop being identical, and the gap is the luxury tax plus the HST riding on it.

Across the country the ranking does not change — the luxury tax is federal and identical everywhere, so it shifts every province by the same $10,000 before their own rates apply. On $150,000 from a dealer the spread runs from $168,000 in Alberta to $198,000 in British Columbia, and Alberta's advantage is the same one it always has: no provincial sales tax to add on top.

None of this is avoidable by splitting the invoice. The taxable amount the luxury tax is calculated on includes improvements, incidentals, fees and levies, which is why the Agency's own example starts at $214,000 rather than $200,000.

What this does not do

Private-sale rules are here for Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, whose own documents were read for this page, and for Alberta and the three territories, where there is no provincial tax to charge. New Brunswick is not: New Brunswick's own documents on its Provincial Vehicle Tax sit on a site that blocks the automated reading we verify with, so its private-sale figure is not shown rather than guessed at. The dealer figure is right in all thirteen.

— The federal luxury tax is applied to dealer sales above $100,000, on the assumption that the car is a subject vehicle — under 11 seats, 3,856 kg or less, built after 2018, and not one of the excluded types. A vehicle first registered and delivered before September 2022 is outside it entirely, and that cannot be decided from a price.

— The GST/HST is charged on a price that includes the federal luxury tax, which is what the CRA states and what is applied here. Whether a provincial sales tax does the same is a separate question: in an HST province it does not arise, because the HST is the provincial tax. In British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec it does arise, and their own documents were not read on that point — so provincial tax is applied to the price before the luxury tax, and where that is wrong the real total is higher than shown.

— Registration, licence plate and transfer fees are not included. They are not tax, they are administrative charges, and each province sets its own.

— A trade-in is assumed to qualify: a vehicle for personal use, of the same general kind, owned by the buyer and with the provincial tax paid on it, accepted in the same agreement. Those are the conditions every province that deducts it attaches, and a trade-in that fails them is taxed on the full price. A dealer buying your car outright, instead of taking it in trade, is not a trade-in.

— Exemptions are not applied: gifts between qualifying family members, transfers on death, First Nations purchases on reserve and several others remove the tax entirely, each with its own paperwork.

The luxury tax deserves a word of its own because it compounds: it is charged by the vendor on vehicles above $100,000 and then the GST or HST is charged on a base that includes it. Tax on tax, legally, and not in the figure above.

Where these rules come from

The provincial documents and the federal ones, each read on the date shown:

Government of Ontario — Retail Sales Tax: specified vehicles (private sales, Red Book, trade-ins) — read 2026-09-28. https://www.ontario.ca/document/retail-sales-tax/specified-vehicles

Province of British Columbia — Bulletin PST 308, PST on Vehicles (revised August 2026) — read 2026-09-28. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/taxes/sales-taxes/publications/pst-308-vehicles.pdf

Province of British Columbia — Bulletin PST 116, Motor Vehicle Dealers and Leasing Companies (revised April 2026) — read 2026-09-28. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/taxes/sales-taxes/publications/pst-116-motor-vehicle-dealers-leasing-companies.pdf

Revenu Québec — Purchase of a used road vehicle from an individual; from a dealer; trade-in between an individual and a dealer; estimated value of used road vehicles — read 2026-09-28. https://www.revenuquebec.ca/en/citizens/consumption-taxes/taxable-zero-rated-or-tax-exempt-goods-and-services/gst-and-qst/transport-and-road-vehicles/road-vehicles-individuals/purchase-of-a-road-vehicle/purchase-of-a-used-road-vehicle-from-an-individual/

Government of Saskatchewan — Information Bulletin PST-78, Private Vehicle Sales and Other Vehicle Transactions (revised August 2026), and PST-18, Commercial Vehicle Sales and Leases — read 2026-09-28. https://sets.saskatchewan.ca/rptp/portal/footer/taxinformation/provincial-sales-tax

Manitoba Finance — Information Bulletin RST 054, Privately Purchased Vehicles (revised August 2026), and Bulletin No. 012, Motor Vehicle and Trailer Dealers — read 2026-09-28. https://www.gov.mb.ca/finance/taxation/pubs/bulletins/054.pdf

Nova Scotia Provincial Tax Commission — Tax Information Guide 2006 (Nova Scotia Sales Tax on private purchases of motor vehicles, 14%) and Service Nova Scotia, Tax on Privately Purchased Vehicles (trades) — read 2026-09-29. https://www.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/documents/1-170/tax-information-guide-2006-en.pdf

Newfoundland and Labrador Department of Finance — Information Circular RAA-UV-2021-11-09, Retail Sales Tax on Used Vehicles, and Motor Registration, Sales Tax on Vehicles — read 2026-09-29. https://www.gov.nl.ca/fin/files/Information-Circular-RST-on-Used-Vehicles-Nov-2021-1.pdf

Prince Edward Island — Retail Sales Tax Act, ss. 1(r), 15 and 16 (consolidated to 29 May 2026), and Revenue Tax Guide 198 — read 2026-09-29. https://www.princeedwardisland.ca/sites/default/files/legislation/r-13-03-retail_sales_tax_act.pdf

CRA — GST/HST in special cases: trade-ins (the net amount when the customer does not charge tax) — read 2026-09-28. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-special-cases.html

CRA — Notice LTN2, Subject vehicles under the Select Luxury Items Tax Act (taxable amount; trade-in example) — read 2026-09-28. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/ltn2/subject-vehicles-under-select-luxury-items-tax-act.html

CRA — Charge and collect the GST/HST: which rate to charge (the dealer case in all 13) — read 2026-09-07. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/charge-collect-which-rate.html

Three of them were revised in August 2026 — British Columbia's PST 308, Saskatchewan's PST-78 and Manitoba's RST 054 — and are worth opening if you are buying there: the rate tables and the trade-in conditions in them are the whole answer.

Questions

How much tax do I pay on a used car in Ontario?

13%, but on the greater of what you paid and the Canadian Red Book wholesale value if you bought privately. Pay $15,000 for a car booked at $19,000 and the tax is $2,470 — $520 more than 13% of the price. From a dealer it is 13% HST on the invoice.

Is it cheaper to buy a car privately in Canada?

Not on tax. Every province taxes private sales. In British Columbia a private sale is 12% PST with no GST against a dealer's 7% PST plus 5% GST — identical below $55,000. In Ontario the rate is the same either way but the private sale is taxed on the Red Book value, so it is more expensive whenever you got a bargain.

Can I write a lower price on the bill of sale to pay less tax?

In Ontario, British Columbia, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island it changes nothing, because the tax is charged on the greater of the price and a published valuation: the Red Book (wholesale in most, retail in Saskatchewan), the average wholesale value in British Columbia, the Black Book in Manitoba, and in Quebec the Hebdo wholesale price minus $500. Each allows a genuine appraisal instead, for a damaged or unusually worn vehicle; Newfoundland and Labrador also accepts an affidavit sworn by buyer and seller.

Which province has the lowest car tax?

Alberta, at 5% on a dealer sale — $1,250 on $25,000 against $3,750 in Prince Edward Island. That is the ordinary sales tax rather than a vehicle rule, and it applies to the car the same way it applies to a fridge.

Do electric cars pay less tax in British Columbia?

Not a lower rate — higher thresholds, which works out the same in the band that matters. A ZEV stays at 7% dealer PST up to $75,000 where a petrol car steps up at $55,000. Those thresholds revert on 22 February 2027.

When do I pay the tax on a private car purchase?

At registration, to the province — ServiceOntario in Ontario, ICBC in British Columbia, the SAAQ in Quebec, SGI or a motor licence issuer in Saskatchewan, Manitoba Public Insurance or an Autopac agent in Manitoba, Access Nova Scotia in Nova Scotia, Motor Registration in Newfoundland and Labrador and Access PEI or the Department of Finance in Prince Edward Island. Not to the seller, and not at the time of the sale, which is why it is so often left out of the budget.

Do you pay tax on a car after the trade-in in Canada?

From a dealer, yes — on the difference. The GST or HST, and the provincial tax in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, is charged on the price minus the trade-in allowance. On a $40,000 car with a $15,000 trade-in in Ontario the HST is $3,250, not $5,200.

Does a trade-in reduce the tax on a private car sale in Ontario?

No. Ontario charges RST on a private purchase on the greater of the price and the Red Book value, and a trade of any nature does not decrease it — the same $40,000 deal privately costs $5,200. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island do reduce a private-sale tax by a trade-in; Quebec does not.

Does a trade-in reduce the luxury tax?

No. The federal luxury tax is worked out on everything the dealer is paid, trade-in included — the CRA's example is a $150,000 car paid partly with a $50,000 trade-in, taxed on $150,000. The GST or HST on top is still charged on the net amount.

How much is the luxury car tax in Canada?

The lesser of 10% of the price and 20% of the amount above $100,000. On a $150,000 car that is $10,000, an effective 6.667%. The two rules cross at $200,000, above which the tax is always 10% of the price and never more.

At what price does the Canadian luxury car tax start?

Above $100,000. It phases in rather than jumping: at $100,001 the tax is twenty cents, because the binding rule at that end is 20% of the amount over the threshold, not 10% of the whole price.

Do you pay GST on top of the luxury tax in Canada?

Yes. The CRA applies the GST/HST to the final sale price inclusive of the luxury tax. On a $150,000 car in Ontario the HST comes to $20,800 rather than $19,500, so the $10,000 of luxury tax drags a further $1,300 of HST behind it.

Does the luxury tax apply to a used car?

Not if it was registered with a government before September 2022 and possession was transferred to the user by then — such a vehicle is outside the definition of a subject vehicle and stays outside it on resale. Nor does it apply to a sale between private individuals at any price, because the person liable is the registered vendor, not the buyer — except where the vendor is the Crown, an agent of the Crown, an Indigenous governing body or a foreign representative, when the purchaser becomes liable instead.

Which vehicles are exempt from the Canadian luxury tax?

A vehicle is only caught if it seats no more than 10, has a gross vehicle weight rating of 3,856 kg or less and was built after 2018. Expressly excluded: an ambulance; a hearse; a motor vehicle clearly marked for policing activities; a motor vehicle clearly marked and equipped for emergency medical or fire response activities; a recreational vehicle with at least four of the listed amenities — cooking, refrigeration, toilet, heating or cooling, water supply, or electrical or gas power.