Ontario Legal Fees and HST Calculator

HST at 13% generally applies to a lawyer's professional fees in Ontario. The tax treatment of disbursements depends on whether a given amount is properly characterised as an agency disbursement - an area discussed by the CRA in Policy Statement P-209R and GST/HST Memorandum 5-3.

Disbursements not treated as incurred as agent are firm-incurred expenses re-billed to the client, such as couriers or printing. The underlying supply is made to the firm, so the reimbursement generally attracts HST.

Disbursements treated as incurred as agent are amounts the lawyer pays strictly on behalf of the client, where the client (not the firm) is the recipient of the supply and the amount is re-billed at cost. Court filing fees and land-registry fees are often treated this way, but the correct characterisation is fact-specific and can vary - for example, when a fee is paid through a firm-account arrangement or bundled with a taxable service.

Any retainer held in trust is applied against the total invoice. A retainer larger than the invoice leaves a remaining trust credit rather than a negative balance.