After years of watching significant sums slip through its fingers, Revenu Québec finally managed to collect $1 billion in QST last year from online purchases made from businesses outside the province.
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This amount was collected during the 2025-2026 fiscal year ending March 31, data obtained by Magazine through a request for access to information.
That’s more than double the $442 million raised four years earlier.
This is great news for local traders who have been complaining about unfair competition for years.
“The increase in the amount of QST collected in e-commerce reflects, in particular, the evolution of consumer habits and the continued growth of purchases made online. This is also due to the ongoing efforts of Revenu Québec to ensure compliance with the tax obligations of digital platforms and suppliers located outside of Quebec,” explains Mylène Gagnon, spokesperson for Revenu Québec.
“More willpower”
“Tax authorities have more desire and more resources” to collect the taxes they are owed, said Jacques Nantel, professor emeritus at HEC Montréal. About ten years ago, governments, both federal and provincial, didn’t believe in this. They said that (these purchases) were relatively marginal, that the system should not be changed because of this. »
But online retail now accounts for more than 12% of retail sales, Mr. Nantel said, or five to six times more than before the pandemic.
Jacques Nantel
Photo by HEC Montreal
Several measures
Governments have taken a number of measures in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2019, foreign companies selling services such as music or TV subscriptions (Spotify, Netflix, etc.) must collect QST and transfer it to the government.
1is In September 2019, this obligation was extended to all companies outside Quebec.
Then, in 2021 and 2022, Quebec followed the federal government’s lead and began enforcing QST on foreign goods shipped from warehouses.
For its part, the Border Services Agency (CBSA) levies QST on goods destined for Quebec but entering the country through other provinces.
Revenu Québec now estimates the overall tax loss rate for online purchases made from businesses located outside the province to be 3.5%.
QST collected on overseas online purchases (2025–2026)
QST collected by CBSA: $63 million.
QST collected on online services: $294 million.
QST collected on direct sales items: $166 million.
QST charged on goods in transit through warehouses: US$488 million.
Total: 1.01 G$
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