The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit payment amounts for 2025. According to the CRA, the GST/HST rebate offers eligible Canadians quarterly tax-free payments to help low- and modest-income households offset goods and services tax expenses.
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How much will you receive via the GST/HST rebate?
For the payment period from July 2024 to June 2025, single Canadians could receive up to $519 annually ($129.75 quarterly), while couples could get up to $680 ($170 quarterly). Families with children under 19 can receive an additional $179 per child ($44.75 quarterly).
The GST/HST tax credit is generally distributed on the fifth day of July, October, January, and April every year. The amount you receive depends primarily on two factors: your adjusted family net income and the number of children under 19 registered for the Canada Child Benefit and GST/HST credit.
To qualify for the GST/HST tax credit, you must be at least 19 years old (with some exceptions for younger parents or those with spouses) and a Canadian resident. The good news? There’s no need to apply separately for the rebate, as the CRA automatically considers you for the credit when taxes are filed.
Notably, changes in your life, such as a shift in marital status, income adjustments, or child custody arrangements, can impact the payment amount. For example, parents sharing custody may be eligible for half of their child’s GST/HST credit.
Invest tax credits and build long-term wealth
The GST/HST tax credit was introduced to provide low-and-modest-income households with financial relief. However, households can use the proceeds from rebates and tax credits to buy and hold quality stocks or exchange-traded funds to build long-term wealth.
One of Canada’s most popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is Vanguard S&P 500 Index ETF (TSX: VSP). With over $4 billion in assets under management, the ETF is ideal for Canadian investors looking to tap into the U.S. stock market.
The VSP ETF does something straightforward: it tracks the performance of America’s 500 largest companies while hedging away the U.S. dollar exposure back to Canadian dollars. The fund achieves this by investing in Vanguard’s U.S.-domiciled S&P 500 ETF and using derivatives to offset currency risk.
With a management fee of 0.09%, the VSP is a low-cost ETF that provides you exposure to tech giants, including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Amazon.
The VSP ETF was launched in November 2012. An investment of $10,000 in the VSP ETF in late 2012 would be worth more than $45,000 today.
Investing in passively managed low-cost ETFs such as the VSP is ideal for most Canadians to gain access to the equity markets. Here, you benefit from portfolio diversification, which lowers overall risk. With low management expense ratios, ETFs like VSP are much cheaper than actively managed mutual funds. It’s like getting wholesale prices instead of paying retail, and these savings compound significantly over time.
Finally, over 80% of fund managers on Wall Street have consistently failed to beat the S&P 500 index, making the VSP ETF even more attractive for those with a long-term investment horizon.
