Canada zero-rates children's goods, restaurant food and drinks for a GST/HST holiday from 14 December 2024 to 15 February 2025

What changed in detail

The Tax Break for All Canadians Act (S.C. 2024, c. 32) received Royal Assent on 12 December 2024. It adds Part XI to Schedule VI of the Excise Tax Act, headed “Temporary Zero-Rating – December 14, 2024 to February 15, 2025”. The Act defines the eligible period as the period beginning on 14 December 2024 and ending on 15 February 2025.

During that period the Act zero-rates, for GST and HST purposes:

• children’s clothing and footwear, diapers and children’s car seats;
• printed books, children’s toys, video game consoles and Christmas trees;
• qualifying food and beverage services;
• eligible beverages, as the Act defines them.

Zero-rating means no GST or HST is charged on the supply. Registrants can still claim input tax credits for tax paid on their inputs.

The relief runs only for the eligible period. It ends by its own terms after 15 February 2025.

What it means

The holiday is over. It expired on 15 February 2025, and supplies of these items made after that date are taxed at the ordinary GST or HST rate. No later law extended it.

What survives is the record-keeping. Returns for the periods covering December 2024 to February 2025 remain open to review. Registrants should keep the records that show why each zero-rated sale fell inside the eligible period and within a listed category. Supplies near either end of the window carry the most risk.