Side Hustle Taxes in Canada: T2125, GST/HST Registration, and Platform Reporting
The map this sits on is the tax-aware income guide. Whether the payer is allowed to call you a contractor is employee versus contractor. Pricing the work after CPP is the consulting-rate page. The longer self-employed return is the self-employed tax guide.
- Business and professional income goes on Form T2125. A short-term rental is often rental income, not a T2125, unless you are also providing services.
- The $30,000 small-supplier threshold counts worldwide taxable supplies of you and your associates. It excludes goodwill, financial services, and sales of capital property.
- Cross it inside one calendar quarter and you charge GST/HST on the supply that put you over, and you register within 29 days.
- Cross it over four quarters, but not inside one quarter, and you generally stop being a small supplier at the end of the following month.
- Part XX requires many platform operators to report seller information to CRA. Their report does not replace your return.
Where does the income go on the return?
CRA's sharing-economy page treats commercial ridesharing and many service gigs as self-employment. You report that income, and the expenses that belong to it, on Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities. If the business is incorporated, the corporation files a T2. A sole prop does not get a corporate return just because the app has a company name.
Accommodation sharing is the split to get right. CRA says rental income from a short-term rental is generally reported as rental income. If you also provide services, that service portion is self-employment and goes on the T2125. Do not put the whole booking on a T2125 because the payout arrived through an app, and do not leave the service portion off because the rest was rent.
When do you have to register for GST/HST?
CRA's registration page, reviewed for this article in October 2026, uses $30,000 as the small-supplier threshold for most businesses. You are a small supplier if you do not go over $30,000 in any single calendar quarter and you do not go over $30,000 across the last four consecutive calendar quarters. Calendar quarters are January to March, April to June, July to September, and October to December. The total includes associates who were associated at the start of the quarter. It is worldwide taxable supplies, before expenses. Zero-rated supplies count toward the threshold even though the tax rate on them is zero. Goodwill, financial services, and sales of capital property are left out.
| What happened | Status | What CRA says to do |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable supplies stay at or under $30,000 in every quarter and across four consecutive quarters | Small supplier | Registration is not required. You may register voluntarily. You do not charge GST/HST unless you register. |
| You go over $30,000 inside one calendar quarter | No longer a small supplier on that supply | Charge GST/HST on the supply that put you over. Effective date is no later than that day. Register within 29 days. |
| You go over $30,000 across four (or fewer) consecutive quarters, but not inside one quarter | Small supplier until the end of the next month | Effective registration is no later than the first supply after you stop being a small supplier. Register within 29 days of that date. |
Table as of October 2026. Source: CRA, "When to register for and start charging the GST/HST." Public service bodies use $50,000, not $30,000. A hobby that never had a reasonable expectation of profit is a different question from a small supplier. Do not use the threshold as a reason to skip reporting income.
Suppose taxable supplies are $8,000 in each of four consecutive calendar quarters. No quarter exceeds $30,000. The four-quarter total is $32,000, so the four-quarter test is the one that matters. You remain a small supplier through the month after the quarter in which you crossed, and you start charging on supplies after that, unless a single later quarter blows through $30,000 on its own. Count associates. A spouse's business that is associated with yours is not a separate $30,000.
What do platform operators report?
Part XX of the Income Tax Act is Canada's version of the OECD model rules for digital platforms. A reporting platform operator collects identification and activity information about reportable sellers and files it with CRA. The return for a calendar year is due by January 31 of the next year. The operator is also supposed to give you a copy of what it reported. CRA's page for people who only buy on platforms says the rules do not apply to buyers.
If you sell or provide a relevant activity, your job under those rules is to give the operator the information it asks for. Your job under the Income Tax Act is still to report the income. An excluded-seller category exists. This article does not quote a dollar cutoff for that exclusion, because the figure belongs on CRA's "who is affected" page for the year you file, not in a paraphrase. Assume you are reportable until you have read that page against your own facts.
What else is owed below the GST line?
Income tax does not wait for GST registration. Net business income is included on the T1. You also pay Canada Pension Plan contributions on self-employment. For 2026, CRA's contribution table sets the employee-and-employer rate at 5.95% and the self-employed maximum at $8,460.90, on pensionable earnings up to the $74,600 YMPE after the $3,500 basic exemption. A second additional contribution applies between the YMPE and the $85,000 YAMPE. CRA lists the 2026 self-employed maximum for that second piece at $832. Employment insurance is not automatic for a self-employed person. Special benefits are an opt-in. This page does not quote that premium.
Expenses on the T2125 have to be incurred to earn the income, and mixed costs get split. A mileage log is a log, not a round number in April. Home-office claims for a self-employed person are not the employee T2200 rules. The employee deduction guide is the wrong form if you are not an employee.
Once you are registered, GST/HST you charge is CRA's, minus input tax credits on business expenses that themselves carried GST/HST. Spending the tax you collected is how small accounts get into trouble. The rate depends on the place of supply. As of CRA's rate table reviewed in October 2026, HST is 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia (from April 1, 2025), and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. Elsewhere the GST rate is 5%, and provincial sales tax may be a separate system. Quebec's GST is 5%. QST is Revenu Québec's tax, not HST.
Frequently asked questions
Do I file a T2125 if I made only a small amount?
Yes, if it is business income. The $30,000 figure is a GST/HST registration test. It is not an income-tax exemption. Report the gross and the expenses. A loss is still reported. CRA's platform rules do not create a second, quieter set of books.
Does the platform's report mean I can skip the return?
No. Part XX tells CRA what the operator paid or credited. Your return is where you report income and claim expenses. If the operator's copy and your books disagree, keep the records that explain the gap: refunds, fees the platform kept, and sales that were not on that app.
Can I register for GST/HST before I hit $30,000?
Yes. CRA allows voluntary registration if you make taxable supplies in Canada. You then charge the tax and you can claim input tax credits. Voluntary registration is a choice, usually when your customers are businesses that can recover the tax, or when your own expenses carry a lot of GST/HST. It is a poor choice if your customers are consumers who will not pay 13% more.
Are associates included?
Yes. The threshold adds taxable supplies of persons associated with you at the beginning of the quarter. Two businesses you control do not get two $30,000 lines. CRA's small-supplier memorandum is the association test. Do not split a shop across family members to stay under the line.
What if I also drive for a rideshare app?
Self-employed commercial rideshare drivers register for GST/HST from the first fare, even under $30,000. If you also do delivery, and the combined taxable sales are still under $30,000, CRA's 2024 tax tip says you collect on the rideshare fares and you may choose whether to extend registration to the delivery work. Over $30,000 combined, you collect on both. The driver article is the detail.
Sources
- CRA: when to register for and start charging the GST/HST
- CRA: RC4022, general information for GST/HST registrants
- CRA: sharing economy
- CRA: reporting rules for digital platforms (Part XX)
- CRA: CPP rates and maximums
T2125 is a tax return, not a side project.
Instalments, home-office splits, and the GST account are easier before April. The 2026 tax guide is the filing map.
Get the 2026 Tax Guide — $49 CAD
