One load, three HST answers
Who charges HST on freight depends on who invoices whom, not on who hauls. The carrier that bills the shipper charges tax at the destination: 13% on a load delivered in Ontario, the destination province's rate when it delivers elsewhere in Canada. But a freight transportation service supplied by one carrier to another as part of a continuous freight movement is zero-rated, which is why an owner-operator leased onto a carrier's authority, hauling with their own tractor, typically bills that carrier at 0%.
The third answer is the trap. A driver who supplies labour only, with no truck, is not supplying a freight transportation service at all. That is a taxable driving service: once revenue passes the $30,000 small-supplier threshold over four calendar quarters, registration and 13% HST are mandatory, and years of missed collection become the driver's own debt.
| Billing situation | GST/HST treatment |
|---|---|
| You invoice the shipper; delivery in Ontario | 13% HST |
| You invoice the shipper; delivery in another province | That province's rate, destination-based |
| You haul for another carrier in a continuous freight movement | Zero-rated interline settlement: 0%, full input tax credits |
| You supply a driver only, no truck | Taxable service: 13% once registered or past $30,000 |
The zero-rating is documentary as much as legal. The continuous freight movement has to be visible in the paper: bills of lading, carrier agreements and settlement statements that show who the shipper is, who invoices them, and where your leg fits. We set the invoicing conventions once so every settlement supports its own rate without a scramble later.
Zero-rated is not exempt: register and file to collect
An interline carrier charging 0% still pays 13% on diesel, tires, repairs and equipment leases, and every dollar of it comes back as input tax credits, but only to a registrant who files. Owner-operators under $30,000 can register voluntarily, and for most of them the refunds make the paperwork pay for itself many times over.
A return claiming a refund period after period is the normal shape of interline work, but refund claims do draw pre-assessment reviews. We keep the ITC file audit-ready, with fuel-card statements, repair invoices and lease documents behind every claim, and when a review letter arrives, CRA Audit & Review Support answers it with documents instead of delay.
The carrier T2 and the calendar around it
The corporate return is where the year lands: roughly 12.2% combined Ontario tax on the first $500,000 of active income, the T2 due six months after year-end with the balance owing at three months for most small CCPCs, and instalments beginning once tax passes $3,000. Capital cost allowance on tractors and trailers is the largest deduction on most carrier returns, and the timing choices behind it belong to planning work rather than filing week. Corporate Tax Filing runs on books kept all year, so the return reconciles to settlements and factor statements instead of arguing with them.
Around the T2 sit the fixed dates: HST returns on the assigned cycle, T4s for company drivers by the end of February, and, for trucks running beyond Ontario, quarterly IFTA fuel tax returns filed through the Ontario Ministry of Finance, a compliance item we flag and calendar rather than let surprise you.
TL2s and the 80% meal claim your drivers ask about in March
Long-haul drivers get a meal deduction most employees never see: 80% of meal costs during an eligible travel period, against the usual 50%. Eligible means away at least 24 hours, transporting goods beyond a 160-kilometre radius from the home terminal, in a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating over 11,788 kg. The simplified method allows a flat $23 per meal, up to three a day, which spares drivers a shoebox of receipts, and the claim itself lands on line 22900 of the driver's personal return.
The employer's half of that claim is the TL2 form, and it should be signed from ELD and dispatch records rather than memory, because a TL2 that contradicts the logbooks fails review. Self-employed owner-operators claim the same 80% as a business expense when they meet the long-haul definition, with no TL2 required. We prepare driver and owner returns alongside the corporate work through Personal Tax Filing, so the meal claims, the T4s and the corporate books all tell one story. Most of that work happens for carriers based in Mississauga and across the GTA, where a February conversation beats an April scramble.
Source: CRA — GST/HST for businesses.
