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Applying the right tax for the customer’s province, keeping QST separate, and producing return figures that tie back to the ledger. In Alberta the deciding constraint is usually gst-only · 0.05% combined, administered by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) — so that is what every product below is judged against first.
Showing Alberta, Canada — CAD, GST/HST, YYYY-MM-DD.
Search, sort, and filter the matrix. Every value is a word, not a tick — so nothing depends on colour to be understood.
Showing 9 of 9 criteria.
| Criterion | Built for this market | Built for this market | Available here | Available here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place-of-supply taxApplying the right provincial tax based on where the customer is, not where you are. | Automatic by customer province — Fully supported | Provincial tax codes — Fully supported | Provincial rates configurable — Supported with a caveat | Manual rate selection — Limited |
| QST handlingTreating Quebec Sales Tax as a distinct tax with its own registration and return. | QST tracked and reported separately — Fully supported | QST supported — Supported with a caveat | QST supported with setup — Supported with a caveat | Manual — Limited |
| Local tax return from the ledgerWhether the periodic indirect-tax return is built from posted transactions, or has to be assembled somewhere else. | GST/HST return from the ledger — Fully supported | GST/HST return prepared — Fully supported | GST/HST reports — Supported with a caveat | Manual tax rates only — Limited |
| Bilingual documentsEnglish and French invoices and statements, as Quebec and federal buyers require. | English and French templates — Supported with a caveat | Full French interface — Fully supported | Limited French templates — Limited | Limited — Limited |
| Bank feedsHow transactions get in: a live connection to the bank, or a file you download and upload. | Big five plus credit unions — Fully supported | Big five plus credit unions — Fully supported | Major banks — Supported with a caveat | Paid tier — Supported with a caveat |
| Multiple entitiesWhether a second legal entity fits in the same subscription or needs a second one. | Included — Fully supported | One company per subscription — Not supported | One organisation per subscription — Not supported | Multiple businesses per login — Supported with a caveat |
| Accountant accessWhether your advisor gets a login, and whether that login costs a seat. | Free, unlimited — Fully supported | Free accountant seat — Fully supported | Free advisor seat — Fully supported | Invite a collaborator — Supported with a caveat |
| Pricing modelHow the bill scales — per user, per company, per module, or per transaction volume. | Per organisation — Fully supported | Per company, seat-limited tiers — Limited | Per organisation, tiered limits — Limited | Free tier available — Fully supported |
| Local supportSupport in local hours, in local languages, by people who know the local rules. | ET business hours — Fully supported | Canadian support — Fully supported | Smaller Canadian advisor network — Supported with a caveat | Email and chat — Limited |
Place-of-supply tax
Applying the right provincial tax based on where the customer is, not where you are.
QST handling
Treating Quebec Sales Tax as a distinct tax with its own registration and return.
Local tax return from the ledger
Whether the periodic indirect-tax return is built from posted transactions, or has to be assembled somewhere else.
Bilingual documents
English and French invoices and statements, as Quebec and federal buyers require.
Bank feeds
How transactions get in: a live connection to the bank, or a file you download and upload.
Multiple entities
Whether a second legal entity fits in the same subscription or needs a second one.
Accountant access
Whether your advisor gets a login, and whether that login costs a seat.
Pricing model
How the bill scales — per user, per company, per module, or per transaction volume.
Local support
Support in local hours, in local languages, by people who know the local rules.
Criteria are scoped to Canada: rows that would be meaningless here are not shown rather than being padded with "not applicable". Where we have not verified a capability for this market, the cell says "Not documented" rather than claiming a gap.
CAD billing with place-of-supply tax and QST handled natively.
Long-established Canadian edition with GST/HST and QST handling.
Canadian edition with GST/HST support.
Canadian-founded; GST/HST rates are supported but entered manually.
Same in Alberta as everywhere else in Canada — pricing is national, not regional.
Prices are in CAD and exclude GST/HST/QST, which is applied at your place of supply. Per organisation with unlimited users. Verified .
We describe the pricing model rather than reprinting prices. A copied price goes stale without warning; a pricing model does not.
QuickBooks Online
Per company file, tiered by feature, with seat limits per tier.
Current QuickBooks Online pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Xero
Per organisation, tiered, with feature limits per tier.
Current Xero pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Wave
Free tier plus a paid tier; revenue comes mainly from payment processing.
Current Wave pricing (opens on the vendor’s own site) ↗ · model checked
Each page below goes deeper on one product, written for Alberta.
HelloBooks vs QuickBooks Online
Which handles GST/HST/QST across provinces with less setup?
Compare for Alberta →
HelloBooks vs Xero
GST/HST filing in Xero versus a Canada-aware alternative.
Compare for Alberta →
HelloBooks vs Wave
Can I file GST/HST from Wave, or do I need something else?
Compare for Alberta →
| Requirement | What it demands | HelloBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Place-of-supply rulesLegal requirement · CRA ↗ | The applicable tax follows the place of supply, not the seller location, so a national seller applies different rates per customer province. | Covered |
| Small supplier thresholdLegal requirement · CRA ↗ | Registration becomes mandatory once worldwide taxable supplies exceed the small-supplier threshold over four consecutive calendar quarters. | Covered |
| QST registration for QuebecLegal requirement · Revenu Québec ↗ | Supplying into Quebec can require a separate QST registration and filing with Revenu Québec alongside the federal return. | Covered |
| French-language commercial documentsLegal requirement · Office québécois de la langue française ↗ | Invoices, contracts, and customer-facing documents used in Quebec must be available in French. | Partly covered |
| T4A slips for contractor paymentsLegal requirement · CRA ↗ | Certain payments to contractors and service providers must be reported on a T4A information slip. | Partly covered |
Alberta uses the GST-only model — GST (federal only) 0.05%, 0.05% combined. Only federal GST applies — there is no provincial sales tax to register for.
Region authority: Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) ↗ · Alberta compliance guide
Partly. Alberta uses the GST-only model — GST (federal only) 0.05%, 0.05% combined. Only federal GST applies — there is no provincial sales tax to register for. The national GST/HST rules are the same wherever you are registered, so the software shortlist barely moves — what moves is the configuration. Anything you choose has to handle gst-only · 0.05% combined correctly on every invoice without you remembering to set it per transaction.
Supplies with a place of supply in Alberta are taxed at 0.05% (GST (federal only) 0.05%). Only federal GST applies — there is no provincial sales tax to register for. Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is the authority to check for anything region-specific — see https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/gst-hst-businesses/gst-hst-account/register-account.html.
Pricing is national, not regional: $20 and $50 per month, billed annually, in CAD, plus a free tier. Prices are in CAD and exclude GST/HST/QST, which is applied at your place of supply. Prices are per organisation with unlimited users, so a business in Alberta pays the same as one anywhere else in Canada.
In practice the shortlist here is usually QuickBooks Online, Xero, Wave — those are the products with the most local install base and the most CPAs who already know them. That familiarity is a genuine cost saving, and it is the main reason to stay put if nothing else is broken.
Yes, and at no extra cost. Advisors get their own login with their own permissions, and the seat is free — so bringing in a Alberta-based CPA does not change your bill. That matters most where the advisor relationship, not the software, is the real switching cost.
Each market has its own tax regime, currency, and shortlist of incumbents. Switch to the one where your business is registered.
Canada comparison hub · All provinces and territories · Canada compliance hub