Last checked: 2026-09-22
A foreign card country is not, by itself, a GST/HST answer. This page restates two Canada Revenue Agency pages fetched 22 September 2026: “GST/HST and e-commerce” (page details 2022-11-07) and “GST/HST on imports and exports” (page details 2026-06-22). It is not tax, legal, or accounting advice. Recheck both pages, plus the publications they name, before you charge 0%.
The e-commerce page limits electronic commerce, for this topic, to supplies of intangible personal property and services. It says a customer downloading a digitized product is in that category. The examples it names are software, an application, music, a game, or any other product in a digital format, including a subscription that allows the download. The right can be permanent or temporary. Its Example 1 is software supplied to a non-resident with no restriction on where the software may be used. That supply is considered made in Canada, because the non-resident may use it completely or partially in Canada, and the page says it is subject to GST/HST. A billing address outside Canada does not, by itself, take that example outside Canada.
The same e-commerce page says that if the supply is made to a non-resident who is not registered for the GST/HST, it could be zero-rated. A zero-rated supply is a taxable supply at 0%. The page says you must verify eligibility before zero-rating, and it points to GST/HST Info Sheet GI-034, Memorandum 4-5-1, and Memorandum 4-5-3.
The imports and exports page, fetched the same day, says a registrant has to charge GST/HST on taxable supplies of intangible personal property unless they are zero-rated or made outside Canada. A supply of intangible personal property that may not be used in Canada is considered made outside Canada. A supply of intellectual property, such as a patent or a trademark, and the right to use that intellectual property, is zero-rated when made to an unregistered non-resident. This page does not decide that a PDF, a template, or a small software download is a patent or a trademark.
The same exports section says most other supplies of intangible personal property to an unregistered non-resident are zero-rated, except all of the following: a supply made to an individual unless the individual is outside Canada when the supply is made; intangible personal property that relates to real property in Canada or to tangible personal property ordinarily in Canada; intangible personal property that relates to a service made in Canada and not zero-rated as an export, a transportation service, or a financial service; intangible personal property that can be used only in Canada; and a supply of making a telecommunications facility available. A sale to a person, rather than to a company, meets the first of those exceptions unless that person is outside Canada when the supply is made. The page does not say a checkout country menu is the evidence.
For a supply of intangible personal property to qualify, the supplier must verify and keep satisfactory evidence of the customer’s GST/HST registration status and residency at the time of the supply. For intangible personal property other than intellectual property, the supplier must also keep satisfactory evidence of the customer’s physical location at that time.
The e-commerce page says you generally have to register if you provide taxable supplies in Canada, unless you are a small supplier. Zero-rating is the question after you are registered, including if you register by choice. This guide does not restate the small-supplier dollar tests. Whether a platform collects tax on the buyer’s purchase is also a different question. On Stripe Payment Links you remain the merchant, so that checkout does not answer this page for you.
KeepCAD 2026 maps who is the merchant against the small-supplier question. It does not turn this page into a filing.
Sources: canada.ca “GST/HST and e-commerce” (page details 2022-11-07) and canada.ca “GST/HST on imports and exports” (page details 2026-06-22), both fetched 22 September 2026. Recheck them. Not tax advice.