Nova Scotia charges 14% HST, cut from 15% on April 1, 2025 — the first time a province has lowered its own share of HST since harmonization began.
Adding HST: tax = price × 0.14, total = price × 1.14. Removing HST from a total: price = total ÷ 1.14, tax = total − price.
A $100 purchase: tax = $100 × 0.14 = $14.00. Total = $100 + $14.00 = $114.00. Working backwards from that $114.00 total: price = $114.00 ÷ 1.14 = $100.00, tax = $114.00 − $100.00 = $14.00.
Most goods and services carry the full 14% 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 provincial 9% share (leaving just 5% GST) on children's clothing and footwear, diapers, books, and feminine hygiene products. A $30 children's book is taxed at 5% only ($1.50), while a $30 novel for adults carries the full 14% ($4.20).
Nova Scotia's provincial government announced in October 2024 that it would cut its own portion of HST from 10% to 9%, taking the combined rate from 15% to 14% effective April 1, 2025. Every other rate change among the HST provinces since 1997 — New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador raising back to 15% in 2016, Prince Edward Island raising to 15% in 2016 — had been an increase in the provincial share. Nova Scotia's 2025 move was the first time a province voluntarily lowered its own portion.
Nova Scotia has charged a harmonized rate since April 1, 1997, when it joined New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador as the first three provinces to combine GST and provincial sales tax into one tax.
HST is federally administered, so there's no separate Nova Scotia 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 14% HST on taxable sales delivered in Nova Scotia and remit what you collect, minus input tax credits, to the CRA.
| Federal portion | 5% |
| Provincial portion | 9% |
| Combined HST rate | 14% |
Both sources checked 30 September 2026.
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Rate last checked: September 2026. Sources: Government of Nova Scotia, Department of Finance; Canada Revenue Agency GST/HST transitional rules for Nova Scotia (2025).