Is GST/HST charged on insurance brokerage commission?

This is general information about how GST/HST is commonly described for insurance, not tax advice for your brokerage. BrokerLedger does not provide tax advice. Confirm your brokerage’s GST/HST position with your CPA or the Canada Revenue Agency.

For GST/HST purposes, insurance is generally described as an exempt financial service. That typically means the commission a brokerage earns for arranging insurance is not subject to GST/HST.

Two things complicate that simple statement, and both are reasons to get advice rather than assume:

• Some broker fees may be taxable. A brokerage sometimes charges fees that are not simply commission for arranging insurance. Depending on what a fee is actually for, it may be treated differently for GST/HST. The line is fact-specific.
• Exempt is not the same as zero-rated. Because insurance is exempt rather than zero-rated, the way related input tax credits work also differs, which affects your overall position.

This answer deliberately avoids stating specific rule sections, rates, or definitive treatments for particular fees. GST/HST treatment depends on your exact facts and the rules can change. Confirm your brokerage’s position with a CPA or the Canada Revenue Agency — this is the kind of question where a short conversation with your accountant prevents an expensive misclassification.

What you can do on the accounting side is keep your revenue clearly categorized — commission versus other fees — so that whatever treatment applies can be applied cleanly and consistently. For how this fits with your other obligations, see our guide to Canadian brokerage financial compliance.