How to Invoice a US Client From Canada

Billing a US client as a Canadian freelancer is mostly the same as billing a Canadian one — the differences are tax treatment and currency.

GST/HST: usually zero-rated

Services you supply to a recipient located outside Canada are generally treated as an export and zero-rated under GST/HST — meaning the tax rate on that specific supply is 0%, not that you’re exempt from registration or reporting. If you’re a GST/HST registrant, you’d put $0.00 of GST/HST on the invoice line but still report the sale on your return. If you’re not registered at all (because you’re under the $30,000 small-supplier threshold), nothing changes about that — see the GST/HST registration guide.

This zero-rating generally applies as long as the client is genuinely located outside Canada and the service isn’t one of the narrow exceptions in the CRA’s export memorandum (for example, services related to real property physically located in Canada don’t qualify). For most freelance and consulting work — design, writing, development, consulting delivered remotely — the export rule applies cleanly.

What to put on the invoice: label the tax line clearly, e.g. “GST/HST (0% — export of services)” rather than just leaving it blank, so it’s clear the zero rate was a deliberate classification and not an oversight.

Currency

You can invoice in CAD or USD — whichever you and the client agree on. Two things to decide up front:

• Which currency you’re quoting and billing in. State it explicitly on the invoice (e.g. “USD”) so there’s no ambiguity when the client’s bank converts the payment.
• How you’ll report it on your T2125. Canadian tax reporting is in CAD, so a USD invoice needs to be converted using a reasonable exchange rate — the Bank of Canada’s daily rate on the invoice date (or the date payment was received, applied consistently) is the standard approach.

Payment method

Wire transfers, Wise, PayPal, and US-dollar e-transfers (where supported) are all common for cross-border freelance payments. Whichever you use, factor in the conversion spread or fee when quoting a rate — a 2–3% hit on a USD-to-CAD conversion is normal and worth pricing in rather than absorbing silently.

This is general information, not tax advice. Export zero-rating has specific conditions and exceptions beyond what’s summarized here — verify your specific service against the CRA memorandum linked above or with an accountant, especially for anything involving physical goods or Canadian real property.