How to Invoice a US Client from Canada (2026)

Who this guide is for

You are a Canadian freelancer, consultant, agency, or small business, and you have a client in the United States. You need to know what to put on the invoice, whether to charge GST/HST, which US tax form the client will ask you for, which currency to bill in, and what it costs to get paid.

This guide covers the cross-border parts. For the general Canadian rules on invoice contents, see our guide to what a contractor invoice must include in Canada.

This is general information based on CRA, IRS, Bank of Canada, and Justice Laws pages checked in September 2026. It is not tax or legal advice. Cross-border tax depends on details such as where you do the work, whether your client has a Canadian office, and whether you are incorporated. Confirm your situation with an accountant, ideally one who works with US clients.

How we researched this

This is a research-only guide. We did not invoice US clients or run payments through these tools ourselves. The GST/HST rules come from the Excise Tax Act on Justice Laws, the CRA's GST/HST memoranda 4-5-1 and 4-5-3, and its guide RC4022. The US points come from IRS Publication 515, the Form W-8BEN instructions, and the Canada–US tax convention published by the Department of Finance. Currency conversion comes from the CRA's Income Tax Folio S5-F4-C1 and the Bank of Canada. Software and payment fees come from each vendor's Canadian pricing and help pages. Where we could not confirm something on an official page, we left it out. Every source is listed at the end.

The short answer

For most Canadian service businesses billing a US company for work done in Canada:

1. GST/HST is usually 0%. The service is generally zero-rated as an export. You still count it toward the $30,000 registration threshold, and if you are registered you can still claim input tax credits on your business costs.
2. Your client will likely ask for a W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E, not a W-9. With a valid W-8 form on file, the IRS says the client does not issue you a Form 1099.
3. No US tax is usually withheld on services you perform outside the US, because the IRS sources personal services income where the work is done.
4. You can bill in USD or CAD, but your Canadian tax return is in Canadian dollars, converted at the Bank of Canada rate or another rate the CRA accepts.
5. Payment costs vary widely depending on the method, whether a foreign card is used, and who converts the currency.

GST/HST on services to US clients

The zero-rating rule

The Excise Tax Act lists zero-rated exports in Part V of Schedule VI. Two sections cover most services a Canadian business sells to a US client:

• Section 7 zero-rates "a supply of a service made to a non-resident person," with a list of exclusions.
• Section 23 zero-rates "a supply of an advisory, professional or consulting service made to a non-resident person," again with exclusions. It exists because section 7 excludes advisory, consulting, and professional services and sends them to section 23.

Zero-rated means the GST/HST applies at 0%. The CRA's RC4022 guide says there is no GST/HST charged on zero-rated supplies, but registrants may be eligible to claim input tax credits for the GST/HST paid on property and services acquired to provide them. That is the difference from an exempt supply, where you cannot claim input tax credits.

The exceptions to know

The exclusions in sections 7 and 23 matter more than the general rule. Under section 7, these services are not zero-rated even when the client is a non-resident:

• A service made to an individual who is in Canada at any time when they have contact with you about the supply
• A service rendered to an individual while that individual is in Canada
• A service in respect of real property situated in Canada
• A service in respect of tangible personal property that is in Canada when the service is performed
• Acting as the non-resident's agent, or arranging, procuring, or soliciting orders for supplies by or to them
• Postal, transportation, and telecommunication services

Section 23 excludes, for advisory, professional, or consulting services, litigation services rendered to an individual in connection with litigation in Canada (other than before the litigation starts), services in respect of real property or goods situated in Canada, and acting as an agent.

Some common cases:

• A US company hires you for design, software, writing, or marketing work you do from Canada. This is the typical zero-rated case, subject to the checks below.
• A US owner hires you to renovate their Ontario cottage. That is a service in respect of real property situated in Canada. It is not zero-rated, and you charge GST/HST at the rate for the province (see our GST/HST and PST rates by province guide).
• A US individual books sessions with you while visiting Canada. A service rendered to an individual while they are in Canada is excluded, so GST/HST applies.

Check that the client really is a non-resident

Zero-rating depends on the client being a non-resident. The CRA's memorandum on determining residence status notes that a non-resident with a permanent establishment in Canada is deemed resident in Canada in respect of, but only in respect of, the activities carried on through that establishment. If your US client has a Canadian office and you are really serving that office, confirm the treatment with your accountant.

This responsibility sits with you. Memorandum 4-5-3 says it is the supplier's responsibility to determine whether a service is zero-rated and to maintain sufficient evidence to support that determination. The older memorandum 4-5-1 suggests a signed, dated certification of non-residence from the customer and says the CRA will consider other documentation. A signed contract showing the client's US address is a sensible start.

Registration still applies

Charging 0% does not keep you out of the GST/HST system. The CRA says that when you work out whether you are a small supplier, you include the total of all revenues from your worldwide taxable supplies, including zero-rated supplies. If your combined Canadian and US billings go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive calendar quarters, you must register. Our guide on how to register for GST/HST walks through the test and the application.

Registration can also help. RC4022 says that if you choose not to register, you cannot claim input tax credits. A registered consultant with mostly US clients charges little GST/HST but can recover the GST/HST paid on equipment and software. Ask your accountant whether that is worth the filing work.

What your US client will ask for: the W-8BEN

US businesses often ask every contractor for a tax form before the first payment. As a Canadian, the right one is almost always a Form W-8, not a W-9.

• Form W-8BEN is for foreign individuals, including a Canadian sole proprietor. The IRS instructions say you give it to the person requesting it and do not send it to the IRS.
• Form W-8BEN-E is for foreign entities, such as your Canadian corporation. The IRS says it is used by foreign entities to document their status for chapter 3 and chapter 4 purposes.
• Form W-9 is for US persons. IRS Publication 515 says the Form W-9 can be used only by a US person and must contain the payee's TIN. If a client sends you a W-9 by default, tell them you are a foreign contractor and send the W-8 form instead.

No 1099. Publication 515 says foreign persons who provide a valid Form W-8 are exempt from backup withholding and Form 1099 reporting. It also says the W-8BEN and W-8BEN-E may be used to claim exemption from 1099 reporting and backup withholding for income that is not subject to chapter 3 withholding.

How long it lasts. The W-8BEN instructions say the form generally remains in effect from the date it is signed until the last day of the third succeeding calendar year, unless your circumstances change. A form you sign in 2026 generally lasts through December 31, 2029.

Will US tax be withheld?

For work you perform in Canada, generally no. IRS Publication 515 says a payment is subject to chapter 3 withholding if it is from sources within the United States and is fixed or determinable annual or periodical income. For personal services, it says the place where the services are performed determines the source of the income, regardless of where the contract was made, the place of payment, or the residence of the payer.

The Canada–US tax convention points the same way for business income. Article VII, paragraph 1 says the business profits of a resident of one country are taxable only in that country unless the resident carries on business in the other country through a permanent establishment there.

Three situations change the picture, and each is a reason to see an accountant:

• You work on-site in the US. Income for services performed in the US is US-source. The W-8BEN instructions say not to use that form to claim exemption from withholding on compensation for personal services performed in the United States; Form 8233 or Form W-4 applies instead. The treaty's Article V, paragraph 9 can also deem a services permanent establishment when an individual is present in the US for 183 days or more in a twelve-month period and other conditions are met.
• You are paid up front. Publication 515 says a payment is treated as US-source if its source cannot be determined at the time of payment, and gives fees for personal services paid before the services are performed as an example. If a US client pays a large deposit, a clear contract stating where the work will be done helps, but ask your accountant how the client's payer may treat it.
• You are a US citizen or US resident living in Canada. You are a US person for these purposes and the W-8 forms do not apply.

USD or CAD: which currency to bill in

We found no rule requiring a Canadian business to invoice in Canadian dollars. The choice is commercial:

• Bill in USD and the client pays a number they recognize, but you carry the exchange rate risk between the invoice date and the payment date, and you usually pay a conversion cost when the money becomes CAD.
• Bill in CAD and the client carries the risk and the conversion cost. Ask the client's accounts payable team whether they can pay a CAD invoice before you send one.

Whichever you choose, write the currency code on the invoice. A bare "$" is ambiguous on a cross-border invoice, so use "USD 4,000.00" or "US$4,000.00" on the total and the payment terms.

Converting USD income for your Canadian return

Your Canadian income is calculated in Canadian dollars. The CRA's Income Tax Folio S5-F4-C1 says taxpayers determine their Canadian tax results in Canadian currency, and that for a particular day after February 28, 2017 the relevant spot rate is the rate quoted by the Bank of Canada on that day. If no rate is quoted that day, you use the closest preceding day with a rate.

The folio allows some flexibility:

• Other rate sources. The CRA will generally accept a rate from another source if it is widely available, verifiable, published by an independent provider, recognized by the market, used for your financial statements, and used consistently. It names Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters, and OANDA as examples.
• Average rates. The CRA may accept an average of exchange rates over a period for certain income items. It says an average will not generally be accepted if exchange rates fluctuate significantly.

The Bank of Canada publishes daily rates each business day by 16:30 ET, plus monthly and annual average rates. It describes all its rates as indicative only, so the amount your bank or processor credits you will differ.

A worked example (illustrative rate). You invoice a US client USD 4,000.00 on March 3, and the Bank of Canada rate for that day happens to be 1.3700 CAD per USD. You would record CAD 5,480.00 of revenue. If the client pays a month later and you receive a different CAD amount after conversion, the difference is a foreign exchange gain or loss. Ask your accountant how to report it; accounting software can track it for you, as described below.

Check the software's default rate. Wave's help centre says it uses mid-market rates from xe.com when it approximates a conversion, and Zoho Books says it updates rates through Open Exchange Rates by default. Both let you enter your own rate. If you or your accountant rely on Bank of Canada rates, check that the rates in your books match.

What a US-facing invoice should include

Canada's GST/HST invoice-content rules are written for customers who claim input tax credits; our contractor invoice requirements guide covers them. We found no US federal rule on invoice contents, so most of a US invoice is good practice rather than law.

Backed by a CRA rule, if you are GST/HST-registered and the client needs input tax credit information: your business name, the invoice date, the total, the GST/HST charged, your GST/HST registration number, the buyer's name, a brief description, and the payment terms. The CRA's RC4022 guide sets out which of these apply at each invoice amount.

Good practice for every US invoice:

• Your legal business name, Canadian address, and business number or GST/HST number if you have one
• The client's legal name and US address (this supports non-resident status)
• A unique invoice number and the client's PO or contract number, if they use one
• A description of the services, the billing period, and where the work was performed (for example, "Services performed in Ontario, Canada")
• The currency code on every amount
• "GST/HST: 0% (zero-rated export of services)" if you are registered and the supply qualifies
• Payment terms (for example, net 30) and exactly how to pay: payment link, wire details, or cheque mailing address
• Any late-payment terms your contract allows

Getting paid: payment options and fees

US businesses commonly pay by card, ACH bank transfer, wire, or cheque. Each has a different cost profile for a Canadian recipient. The fees below are the published rates for Canadian accounts, checked in September 2026, and exclude any fees your own bank charges.

Card payments through Stripe. Stripe's Canadian pricing is 2.9% + CA$0.30 per successful transaction for domestic cards, plus 0.8% for international cards, plus 2% if currency conversion is required. A card issued in the US would generally count as an international card for a Canadian account; check Stripe's definition in the footnote on its pricing page. If Stripe also has to convert the currency, all three parts apply.

PayPal. PayPal's Canadian merchant fee page lists 2.90% plus a fixed fee for receiving domestic commercial transactions, and an additional 0.80% when the sender is in the US. The fixed fee depends on the currency received: CA$0.30 for Canadian dollars or US$0.30 for US dollars. When a currency conversion happens on a commercial transaction, PayPal lists a minimum conversion rate of 4.00%.

ACH (US bank transfer). Access from Canada is limited. FreshBooks says its ACH bank transfer option is available for US businesses and clients only. Stripe's documentation lists Canada as a private preview location for ACH Direct Debit. Stripe's Canadian local payment methods pricing page does not list an ACH rate.

Wire transfer. Some clients prefer to pay foreign vendors by wire. Your bank may charge a fee to receive an incoming international wire, and the sending bank or an intermediary bank may take a fee too, so ask your bank before you put wire details on an invoice.

Cheque. Some US companies still pay by cheque. Ask your bank how it handles a cheque in US dollars, including any fee and how long it holds the funds.

A fee example. On a USD 4,000.00 invoice paid by a US card through FreshBooks Payments with a CAD account, the listed fees are 2.9% + CA$0.30, plus the 0.8% international card fee, plus the 2% foreign exchange fee because the invoice currency differs from the account currency. That is 5.7% of the payment, or US$228.00, plus CA$0.30. The same invoice paid through PayPal and kept in US dollars costs 3.70% plus US$0.30, or US$148.30; if PayPal converts it to Canadian dollars, the 4.00% conversion rate is on top.

Invoicing software for USD invoices

All four tools below can issue an invoice in US dollars. They differ on which plan you need and how they handle payments and exchange rates. Prices are regular monthly list prices in CAD from each vendor's Canadian pricing page, checked in September 2026.

Feature	FreshBooks	Xero	Wave	Zoho Books
Cheapest plan (CAD/month)	$26 (Lite)	$25 (Starter)	$0 (Starter)	$0 (Free, under C$50K revenue)
Plan needed for USD invoices	Currency set per client; not listed as a plan feature	Premium	Currency changed per invoice; help article names no plan	Professional and up
Price of that plan (CAD/month)	From $26	$80	Not stated by plan	$35 ($30 billed annually)
Exchange rates in the books	Not stated	Hourly updates	xe.com mid-market; your own rate on payment	Open Exchange Rates by default; manual entry allowed
Built-in card payments on a USD invoice	FreshBooks Payments: +0.8% international card, +2% if invoice currency differs from account currency	Stripe: 3.7% + C$0.30 international cards, +2% if conversion needed	Not confirmed on an official page	Through third-party gateways such as Stripe and PayPal
Tracks foreign exchange gain or loss	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Yes, unrealized and realized	Reports generated in base currency

FreshBooks

FreshBooks' help centre says currency and language are set per client, and its Canadian pricing page (Lite CAD $26, Plus CAD $42, Premium CAD $72 a month) does not list currency as a plan feature. FreshBooks Payments, powered by Stripe, lets a Canadian business hold its payments account in USD or CAD; the 2% foreign exchange fee applies only when the invoice currency differs from that account currency. Read our FreshBooks review for the full plan breakdown.

Xero

Xero's Canadian pricing page lists "Use multiple currencies" on Premium, at CAD $80/month; Starter (CAD $25) and Standard (CAD $60) do not include it. Xero says it supports over 160 currencies with hourly exchange rate updates. Read our Xero review for more on Premium.

Wave

Wave's help centre says you create a foreign currency invoice by changing the currency next to the total. Wave records unrealized gains or losses as the rate moves, and when you record the payment you enter the rate your bank actually applied. Starter is free, and Pro is CAD $25/month. We could not find an official Wave page that states how Payments by Wave handles a card payment on a USD invoice for a Canadian business, so confirm that with Wave before relying on it. Read our Wave review for what the free plan covers.

Zoho Books

Zoho Books' Canadian pricing page lists "Record multi-currency transactions" from Professional, at C$35/month (C$30 billed annually); the free plan, for revenue under C$50K, does not include it. You can switch off Zoho's automatic rate feeds and enter your own dated rates, which helps if your accountant wants Bank of Canada rates. Its Canadian help pages list payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Braintree, so the fees are the gateway's. See our best accounting software in Canada roundup for the rest of its plans.

If you only need invoicing and not full bookkeeping, compare plans in our best invoicing software for Canadian contractors roundup.

Step-by-step checklist

1. Confirm the client is a non-resident and is not buying through a Canadian office.
2. Check the zero-rating exclusions (individuals in Canada, real property or goods in Canada).
3. Add your US billings to the $30,000 small supplier test.
4. Send the right US form. W-8BEN if you invoice as an individual or sole proprietor, W-8BEN-E if you invoice through a corporation. Never a W-9 unless you are a US person.
5. Agree the currency and payment method in the contract, including who pays the conversion and card fees.
6. Set up the client in your software with USD as their currency, on a plan that supports it.
7. Build the invoice with the currency code, your details, the client's US address, where the work was performed, and the zero-rated GST/HST line if you are registered.
8. Record the payment at the rate actually received, and keep the Bank of Canada rate (or your consistent alternative) for the invoice date in your records.
9. Talk to an accountant before you do any work on-site in the US or take large up-front payments.

Common mistakes

• Charging HST to a US company by habit. If the supply is zero-rated, charging GST/HST is an error you will have to correct with the client, usually with a credit note.
• Zero-rating work that is excluded. Renovating a US owner's Canadian property, or coaching a US individual while they are in Canada, is taxable.
• Forgetting that US sales count toward $30,000. Zero-rated revenue still counts, and passing the threshold in one quarter means registering right away.
• Filling out a W-9. It certifies that you are a US person. Use the W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E.
• Converting at whatever rate the software shows. Default rates may not be Bank of Canada rates. Pick a method your accountant accepts and use it consistently.
• Ignoring stacked payment fees. A US card on a USD invoice can attract an international card fee and a conversion fee on top of the base rate.

Sources

• Excise Tax Act, Schedule VI, Part V (Exports), sections 7 and 23 (Justice Laws) (checked September 2026)
• CRA: GST/HST Memorandum 4-5-3, Exports – Services and Intangible Personal Property (checked September 2026)
• CRA: GST/HST Memorandum 4-5-1, Exports – Determining Residence Status (checked September 2026)
• CRA: GST/HST on imports and exports (checked September 2026)
• CRA: RC4022, General Information for GST/HST Registrants (checked September 2026)
• CRA: When to register for and start charging the GST/HST (checked September 2026)
• CRA: Income Tax Folio S5-F4-C1, Income Tax Reporting Currency (checked September 2026)
• Bank of Canada: Exchange rates (checked September 2026)
• IRS: Publication 515, Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities (checked September 2026)
• IRS: Instructions for Form W-8BEN (checked September 2026)
• IRS: About Form W-8BEN-E (checked September 2026)
• IRS: Nonresident aliens, source of income (checked September 2026)
• Department of Finance Canada: Canada–United States tax convention, consolidated text (checked September 2026)
• Stripe Canada pricing (checked September 2026)
• Stripe Canada: local payment methods pricing (checked September 2026)
• Stripe Docs: ACH Direct Debit (checked September 2026)
• PayPal Canada: merchant fees (checked September 2026)
• FreshBooks Canada pricing (checked September 2026)
• FreshBooks Help: How do I change my client's currency and language? (checked September 2026)
• FreshBooks Help: Transaction fees for FreshBooks Payments (CAD) (checked September 2026)
• FreshBooks Help: Accept online payments with FreshBooks Payments powered by Stripe (checked September 2026)
• Xero Canada pricing plans (checked September 2026)
• Xero Canada: Stripe pricing and fees (checked September 2026)
• Xero Canada: multicurrency accounting (checked September 2026)
• Wave pricing (checked September 2026)
• Wave Help: Create a foreign currency invoice or bill (checked September 2026)
• Wave Help: Record a payment on a foreign currency invoice or bill (checked September 2026)
• Wave Help: Frequently asked questions about foreign currency (checked September 2026)
• Zoho Books Canada pricing (checked September 2026)
• Zoho Books Help: Currencies (checked September 2026)
• Zoho Books FAQ: Currency exchange rates (checked September 2026)
• Zoho Books Help: Online payments (checked September 2026)