Budget 2026 proposes to add qualifying massage therapy services to the list of GST/HST-exempt healthcare services
It is currently only a budget proposal tabled as a Notice of Ways and Means Motion as if date posted
(Under the heading Sales and Excise Tax Measures > GST/HST Health Measures > GST/HST Treatment of Massage Therapy Services)
"In determining what health care services are eligible for exemption, the approach that the Government of Canada has generally taken is to refer to the practices of the provinces and territories, given their primary responsibility for health care administration. Under this policy, services of a health care profession are generally exempt from GST/HST once the profession is regulated as a health profession in at least five provinces.
Massage therapy is currently regulated as a health profession in at least five provinces.
Budget 2026 proposes that qualifying massage therapy services be added to the list of health care services that are exempt from the GST/HST.
The exemption would generally apply to a supply of a massage therapy service where the service is rendered to an individual by a person who:
is licensed or certified to practise the profession of massage therapy in the province in which the service is supplied; or
in a province where no licence or certification is required to practise massage therapy, has qualifications equivalent to those required to be licensed or certified in another province.
This measure would apply to qualifying supplies made after Budget Day."
This is an exempt supply, not a zero-rated supply.
While therapists will no longer charge GST/HST to patients, practitioners and clinics will no longer be eligible to claim Input Tax Credits (ITCs) on commercial expenses related to providing exempt massage services (e.g., commercial rent, table supplies, laundry/linens, oils, clinic management software).
The GST/HST paid on these inputs becomes an unrecoverable operating expense.
Check with your Professional associations (such as the Canadian Massage Therapist Association and provincial RMT associations) for advise that as practitioners if you should continue collecting GST/HST as usual until the enabling legislation receives Royal Assent