Canada's GST/HST break is ending soon and you should stock up on these grocery products
Not all groceries were tax-free before the freeze so your bill could get more expensive. 👀
People at a grocery store in Toronto.
Canada's GST/HST break is ending soon and some grocery products are going to get more expensive.
So, you might want to stock up on these items from grocery stores in Canada now to save money!
You can take advantage of the GST/HST break whether you shop at discount retailers like Costco, Walmart and No Frills or more expensive grocery stores like Loblaws, Sobeys and Metro.
Not all groceries were tax-free before this tax break so your grocery bill could get more expensive when the freeze ends.
The GST/HST tax break in Canada ends on Saturday, February 15, 2025.
It applies to certain foods and beverages that weren't already zero-rated or exempt.
Here are the grocery products to stock up on now before you have to start paying GST/HST again.
Food
Here are the grocery products that will only be tax-free until February 15:
- prepared foods including sandwiches, salads, vegetable or cheese platters, and pre-made meals
- snacks
- candies, confectionery, or any goods sold as candies, such as candy floss, chewing gum and chocolate
- chips, crisps, puffs, curls or sticks (like potato chips, corn chips, cheese puffs, potato sticks, bacon crisps and cheese curls), popcorn, and brittle pretzels
- granola products like granola bars (excluding breakfast cereals)
- snack mixtures that contain cereals, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and more (excluding breakfast cereals)
- ice lollies, juice bars, flavoured, coloured or sweetened ice waters, or similar products
- ice cream, ice milk, sherbet, frozen yogurt or frozen pudding, and non-dairy substitutes
- fruit bars, rolls or drops, or similar fruit-based snack foods
- cakes, muffins, pies, pastries, tarts, cookies, donuts, brownies, croissants with sweetened filling or coating, or similar products prepackaged in quantities of less than six
- energy bars or protein bars
- only if they're in a similar aisle in a store and are marketed similarly to non-protein enhanced products, are considered by the average person to be a hunger-satisfying food, and are considered by Health Canada to be a food
Drinks
These are the drinks that you can get tax-free until the GST/HST break ends on February 15:
- non-alcoholic drinks
- coffee, tea, carbonated drinks, juices, and smoothies
- beer and malt beverages
- canned or bottled beer, pitchers of beer, and similar products
- 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
- energy or protein drinks and shakes
- only if they're in a similar store aisle and are marketed similarly to non-protein enhanced products, are considered by the average person to be a thirst-satisfying beverage, and are considered by Health Canada to be a beverage