How to calculate New Brunswick's 15% HST
Adding HST: tax = price × 0.15, total = price × 1.15. Removing HST from a total: price = total ÷ 1.15, tax = total − price.
Worked example on $100
A $100 purchase: tax = $100 × 0.15 = $15.00. Total = $100 + $15.00 = $115.00. Working backwards from that $115.00 total: price = $115.00 ÷ 1.15 = $100.00, tax = $115.00 − $100.00 = $15.00.
What's taxed and what's exempt
Most goods and services carry the full 15% HST. Exempt from HST altogether: basic groceries, prescription drugs, most health and dental services, and long-term residential rent. Point-of-sale rebates remove the 10% provincial share (leaving just 5% GST) on children's clothing and footwear, children's car seats, diapers, and feminine hygiene products. A $50 car seat is taxed at 5% only ($2.50), while a $50 adult accessory carries the full 15% ($7.50).
New Brunswick was one of the first three HST provinces
New Brunswick began charging HST on April 1, 1997, blending the federal GST with its own provincial sales tax into a single rate — alongside Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, which joined the same year. Those three Atlantic provinces were the first in Canada to harmonize, more than a decade before Ontario and British Columbia tried it in 2010.
The rate has moved since 1997
New Brunswick's combined HST rate has changed more than once, but not because the province kept adjusting its own share: the rate fell to 13% between 2008 and 2016 as the federal government cut the GST portion from 7% to 5%. New Brunswick then raised its own provincial portion from 8% to 10% effective July 1, 2016, bringing the combined rate back up to 15%, where it has stayed since.
Registering to collect HST as a small business
HST is federally administered, so New Brunswick has no separate provincial sales tax registration — one CRA GST/HST account covers it. Registration is mandatory once your total taxable revenue (including any associated businesses) passes $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, or within a single quarter; below that you're a small supplier and registration is optional. Once registered, you charge 15% HST on taxable sales delivered in New Brunswick and remit what you collect, minus input tax credits, to the CRA.
Rate last checked: September 2026. Sources: Canada Revenue Agency GST/HST Notice 297; Government of New Brunswick, Finance.