Manitoba, Canada Sales Tax Calculator and Details

The cumulative sales tax rate for 2023 in Manitoba, Canada is 12%. This total rate is a combination of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) of 5% and a Retail Sales Tax (RST) of 7%.

Sales Tax Breakdown For Manitoba, Canada

Sales Tax Type	Sales Tax Rate
GST	5%
RST	7%
Combined Total	12%

The Retail Sales Tax (RST) is a tax applied to the retail sale or rental of most goods and certain services in Manitoba unless otherwise specified. This tax is calculated on the selling price, before the Good and Services Tax (GST) is applied.

The rules and exemptions for RST are fairly complex and very detailed. Information about them span a very long list of separate documents.

Some of the more common items exempt from retail sales tax include:

• Animals that are, or produce food or drink for humans
• Baby supplies, such as diapers, strollers, cribs, gates and monitors, as well as items used for nursing, feeding or bathing
• Books printed, bound and with a distinct cover (with permanent bindings or punched loose leaf pages) or books on audio or electronic media that are produced for use by the general public, published solely for educational, technical, cultural or literary purposes and that contain no advertising. The exemption includes educational workbooks.
• Children's clothing and footwear priced at $150 or less, that are within specified children's size ranges or that are larger than the stated sizes but certified by the purchaser in writing to be for a child 14 years of age or under.
• Child safety restraint systems used in vehicles, i.e. car seats and booster seats
• Commemorative coins used as currency and whose selling price does not exceed the face value stated on the coin
• Commercial aircraft that are used solely to transport passengers or freight for a fee. Repair and other services to those aircraft are also exempt. In addition, goods such as food and beverages provided by a commercial air carrier to its passengers during a flight can also be purchased exempt
• Commercial fishing boats, fishing nets, other apparatus used for commercial fishing and related repair parts
• Diabetic supplies such as hypodermic needles, syringes, insulin infusion pumps, test strips to measure blood glucose levels, lancets, lancing devices and blood glucose monitors.
• Drugs for human use when sold on prescription
• Electricity purchased and used only for heating a dwelling where the purchaser resides, for heating or cooling farm buildings, or for drying grain in the course of farming
• Food and beverages that are exempted as "basic groceries" under the GST
• Helmets designed for use while riding a bicycle, that meet the standards prescribed under The Highway Traffic Act
• Various medical products
• Natural gas or manufactured gas that is delivered to the purchaser by means of a gas pipe distribution system (piped gas) and used as fuel only for heating a dwelling where the purchaser resides, for heating or cooling farm buildings, or for drying crops with a grain dryer in the course of farming.
• Natural water, except when sold in single servings (less than 600 ml) or sold with a meal.
• Plants that are, or produce food for humans and plants that are, or produce, agricultural feeds. Seeds, tubers, bulbs, corms and rhizomes used to raise those plants are also tax exempt
• Traps, snares, pelt stretchers and other apparatus used directly and exclusively in commercial trapping of fur bearing animals by a trapper licensed under The Wildlife Act.
• Used clothing or used footwear valued at $100 or less
• Used furniture valued at $100 or less when purchased for domestic use

Some of the most common services exempt from retail sales tax include:

• Day care services
• Education
• Self serve car washes, laundry or dry cleaning services that are coin operated
• Motor vehicle safety inspections where these are done as a requirement to register the vehicle for operation
• Veterinary services
• Services provided in Manitoba to goods that are delivered for use exclusively outside Manitoba
• Services to real property (for example, inspections, construction labour, janitorial services, painting or washing of walls)
• Personal services (other than tanning services provided by a device that uses ultraviolet radiation). Examples include medical, hair, skin, nail, spa and body modification services

Note that this is only a tiny subset of the enormous list of details the government provides. More details can be found on the official Manitoba government website we have linked below.

Lastly, instead of RST, lodging and hotel room fees see a 5% sales tax in Manitoba.

GST Exemptions

For more information about the items and services that are exempt from Good and Services Tax (GST), please refer to our main Canada sales tax page.

Quick Reference Sales Tax Table