Self-employed invoices in Quebec: what they must include

These rules exist for a simple reason: your customers need this information to recover the taxes they pay you. Not sure yet whether you have to collect these taxes? Start with our guide to GST and QST registration.

Why do your customers care about this information?

A business registered for the taxes can get back the GST and QST it pays on its purchases. For the GST, this is called an input tax credit (ITC). For the QST, it's an input tax refund (ITR).

To get this refund, your customer has to keep a supporting document, meaning a document that proves the purchase. Your invoice is that document. So it has to include certain information, and the list gets longer as the amount goes up.

The amount that matters is the invoice total, taxes included.

What must your invoice include, based on its amount?

Here is the information required in 2026. In Quebec, Revenu Québec generally administers the GST as well as the QST.

"For the QST" means Revenu Québec already requires it at that amount for the QST. For the GST, the requirement starts at a higher amount.

The simplest approach: put all this information on all your invoices, even the small ones. You'll never have to wonder which column you're in.

The invoice number isn't on this list. It's still very useful: it helps you find an invoice, track payments and spot a gap in your numbering.

How should you show the GST and QST?

If you're registered, your customer needs to know that the GST and QST apply. The clearest way is to show them on two lines, under the amount before taxes:

• the GST, at the 5% rate;
• the QST, at the 9.975% rate.

These are the 2026 rates. Each tax is calculated on the price before taxes.

Don't show a combined rate like 14.975%. The QST rate must appear separately from the GST rate on the sales document.

Also include both your registration numbers: your GST number and your QST number. Your customer needs them from $100 to claim their refunds.

Not registered for the taxes yet: what goes on the invoice?

You may be a small supplier. That's a person whose taxable sales don't exceed $30,000 in a calendar quarter, or in total over the previous four calendar quarters (threshold in effect in 2026). A small supplier generally doesn't have to register.

If you're not registered, you don't collect GST or QST. So your invoice has no tax lines and no registration numbers. The rest of the information is still useful: your customer needs it for their own records.

Keep an eye on your sales. If you exceed $30,000 in a single quarter, you stop being a small supplier right away. You must then collect the taxes on the sale that took you over the threshold, and on every sale after it.

You can also register before you reach the threshold. You'll then have to collect the taxes on your taxable sales and stay registered for at least one year, unless you stop doing business.

Just getting started? The invoice is only one piece of the puzzle. A self-employed person's obligations in Quebec during the first year are gathered in a single guide.

What date should you put on it, and why does it matter?

Date the invoice the day you send it. This date has a direct effect on your taxes.

If you're registered, the taxes on a sale must be reported for the period that includes the earlier of these two dates:

• the day the customer pays you;
• the day the amount becomes due. This is, in particular, the day you first send the invoice, or the date written on it.

The "period" is the one for which you report your taxes to the government.

Example: on December 29, you send an invoice dated that same day, and the customer pays in January. The taxes on this invoice still belong to the period that includes December 29.

Delaying an invoice doesn't delay the taxes. If you hold it back without a valid reason, the day you should have sent it is the one that counts.

Example: a $1,200 invoice (fictional)

Camille, a fictional graphic designer registered for the taxes, invoices a fictional small business for designing three newsletter templates. The total exceeds $500: all the information is required.

The GST ($1,200 × 5%) and the QST ($1,200 × 9.975%) are both calculated on the price before taxes.

What to do before you send an invoice

Go through this checklist:

• Your name or your business's name, the same from one invoice to the next.
• The date you send it.
• An invoice number that follows the previous one.
• The customer's name or business name.
• A clear description: what you did, and for what period.
• The amount before taxes.
• The GST and QST on two lines, with their rates, if you're registered.
• Your GST and QST numbers, if you're registered.
• The total payable.
• The payment terms: due date and payment method.
• A copy filed in your records the same day.

How long should you keep your invoices and receipts?

Keep them for six years after the end of the last year they relate to (Revenu Québec rule in 2026). So an invoice from March 2026 must be kept until at least December 31, 2032.

The rule works both ways:

• The invoices you send prove your income and the taxes you collected.
• The invoices and receipts for your purchases prove your expenses. If you're registered, they also support your own ITCs and ITRs: you must be able to produce them on request, with the information in the table above.

Paper or digital, both are accepted. In digital form, the document must stay readable on the same medium, and you must be able to make usable copies of it. Keep your records at your place of business, at your home or at another location designated by Revenu Québec.

Disputing a notice from Revenu Québec? You may have to keep the documents involved for more than six years.