GST/HST holiday tax break

These items qualify as children's clothing or footwear:

• Baby clothes, including bibs, bunting blankets, and receiving blankets
• Children's clothes up to girls' size 16 and boys' size 20 (or in sizes XS, S, M, or L if there is no Canada Standard Size listed)
• Babies' and children's socks, hats, ties, scarves, belts, suspenders, gloves, and mittens
• Babies' footwear
• Children's footwear with an insole length of 24.25 cm or less
• Sports clothing and dancewear such as jerseys, ski jackets, leotards, unitards, bodysuits, and dual-purpose swimwear that can reasonably be worn outside of sports or dance activities

These items would not qualify:

• Specialized clothing and footwear designed exclusively for sports or recreational activities (for example: wetsuits, soccer cleats, bowling shoes, skates, ski boots, tap shoes, pointe shoes)
• Adult clothing and footwear, even if it's purchased for a child
• Costumes and make-up
• Jewellery

Diapers designed for children and babies qualify, including:

• Cloth or disposable diapers
• Diaper inserts or liners
• Training pants
• Rubber pants designed for use with any of the above items

These items would not qualify:

• Children's diapers provided as part of a diaper service
• Adult diapers (even if they are purchased for a child)

Incontinence products specially designed for use by individuals with a disability are already not charged GST/HST.

These items qualify as children's car seats:

• Restraint systems or booster cushions that conform to the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards:
  • Child restraint systems
  • Infant restraint systems
  • Booster seats
  • Restraint systems for infants with special needs
• In detail: Motor Vehicle Restraint Systems and Booster Seats Safety Regulations - definitions

These items would not qualify:

• Children's car seats and car booster seats that do not meet the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
• Travel systems, which are a combination of stroller, carrier and car seat sold as a single package

Children's toys qualify, if they are intended for children under 14 years old for learning or play. Most toys that are marketed as being for an age below 14 (for example, a toy recommended for children ages 8 and up) would qualify.

Qualifying children's toys include:

• Games, including:
  • Board games with physical components and rules, including replacement parts and add-on components such as dice
  • Card games, including playing cards and Pokémon cards
• Toys, toy sets and toy systems that either:
  • Imitate another item, whether real or imaginary
  • Involve building, creating or assembling structures, objects or models by using pieces, parts, materials or modelling compound
  • Involve sorting, stacking or organizing pieces, parts or materials
• Dolls, plush toys and soft toys and their accessories

These items would not qualify:

• Collectibles that are not intended for play or learning, such as hockey cards or collectible dolls
• Toys and model sets that are marketed for adults (for example, adult Lego or train sets)

These items qualify as physical books:

• Most published, printed books (hardcover or softcover)
• Updates of printed books
• Guide books, and atlases that do not mostly contain street or road maps
• Magazines and periodicals (that have no more than 5% of their printed space devoted to advertising) supplied by subscription, if all the consideration is paid during the relief period and only for those magazines or periodicals that are delivered during the relief period
• Physical audio recordings of printed books, if 90% or more of the recording is a spoken reading of a printed book, including abridged versions (for example, a cassette, compact disc, or reel-to-reel tape version of a published book)
• Physical recordings of a performance of a published play
• Bound or unbound printed versions of scripture of any religion, such as the Quran, the Bible, prayer books, missals, hymn books, and Torah scrolls
• Illustrated versions of religious scriptures (for example, comic book versions)
• Printed books that are wrapped or packaged for sale as a single item with a physical read-only medium that is made up of either a reproduction of the printed book or material that makes specific reference to the printed book
  
  In detail: printed book packages for students

  If the product is specially designed for use by students enrolled in a qualifying course, a printed book packaged with a read-only medium or a right to access a website, or both of them, that contains material that is related to the subject matter of the printed book also qualifies. Most elementary, secondary and university level courses, as well as certain professional accreditation and vocational courses, are qualifying courses.

  For example, printed books that includes a copy of the full text of the novel on CD-ROM, and textbooks that include a CD-ROM with chapter summaries and interactive quizzes based on the subject material in the book would qualify.

These items would not qualify:

• E-books
• Downloadable audio books and e-audio books
• Magazines and periodicals that are not purchased by subscription or that have more than 5% of their printed space devoted to advertising
• Books designed primarily for writing on, such as address books, diaries, journals, and notebooks
• Colouring books, scrapbooks, sticker books, sketchbooks and albums for photographs, stamps or coins
• Brochures, pamphlets, catalogues and advertising material
• Warranty booklets and owner's manuals
• Agendas and calendars
• Certain directories and collections of street or road maps
• Cut-out and press-out books
• Collections of patterns, stencils, or blueprints
• Programs for events or performances
• Rate books
• Recordings of performances of musical scores
• Recordings of unpublished manuscripts
• CD-ROMs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs with textual or visual information

A qualifying newspaper is a printed newspaper that:

• Contains news, editorials, feature stories, or other information of interest to the general public
• Is published at regular intervals (usually daily, weekly or monthly)

These items would not qualify:

• Electronic and digital publications
• Flyers
• Inserts
• Magazines
• Periodicals
• Shoppers

These items qualify as video game consoles, controllers, and games:

• Game consoles designed primarily for playing video games
• Controllers designed primarily for playing video games on a qualifying video game console
• Physical video games, in a tangible format designed for the read-only storage of information in digital format, that contains a video game designed for use with a qualifying video game console (for example, game cartridges)

These items would not qualify:

• Downloadable or online-only games
• Other gaming accessories, such as chairs and headsets

Christmas trees and similar decorative trees qualify, including:

• Natural trees
• Artificial trees

Most basic grocery items already have no GST/HST charged on them.

These food and beverage related items would also temporarily have no GST/HST charged:

• Restaurant meals, whether dine-in, takeout, or delivery (including meals at cafés, pubs, food trucks, and other food and beverage establishments)
• Prepared foods including sandwiches, salads, vegetable or cheese platters, and pre-made meals
• Snacks including chips, candy, baked goods, fruit-based snacks, and granola bars
• Non-alcoholic drinks, such as coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, juices, and smoothies
• Beer and malt beverages
• Wine, cider and sake (including fortified) that are 22.9% alcohol by volume (ABV) or less
• Spirit coolers and premixed alcoholic beverages that are 7% ABV or less
• Catered meals, including the catering fee for providing, preparing, or serving qualified food and beverages

These items would not qualify:

• Food or beverages sold from a vending machine
• Alcoholic beverages (other than beer, malt beverages, wine, cider, and sake) with more than 7% ABV
• Dietary supplements
• Cannabis products, even if they are food or beverages
• Other items that do not qualify as food or beverages for human consumption (for example, pet food)