Document format and locale facts for Canada

Why these defaults?

The country code comes from ISO 3166. Unicode CLDR supplies presentation-oriented locale, currency, paper, date, language, calendar, numbering, and direction metadata. Defaults reduce setup time; they do not decide what a valid document must contain.

Recorded official or regional-official language tags: en, fr, iu, iu-Latn, crk, chp, den, dgr, gwi.

Selected national claims reviewed

Document vocabulary and checks

Core federal GST/HST invoice and supporting-document tiers, business-number context, and the usual six-year GST/HST record-retention period are reviewed from current CRA guidance. Provincial sales-tax and Quebec requirements, place-of-supply, registration, sector and transaction-specific treatment remain separate jurisdiction checks; this pack does not imply one rule or rate applies throughout Canada.

Evidence snapshot: 4 official sources · last reviewed 2026-07-19. This is scoped guidance, not a jurisdiction-wide compliance certification.

Tax labels: GST/HST, PST, QST. Business identifier labels: Business Number (BN) / GST/HST Number.

• Required when applicable: For GST/HST supporting documents of C$100 or more, include the supplier's GST/HST registration number. The CRA applies tiered supporting-document requirements by total sale value; do not treat this as an unconditional requirement for every Canadian invoice.Evidence CA_CRA_ITC · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Required when applicable: For a GST/HST registrant purchaser's ITC support, the supplier or trading name, invoice date (or tax-paid/payable date when no invoice is issued), and total paid or payable are required at every CRA value tier.Evidence CA_CRA_ITC · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Guidance: For GST/HST supporting documents totalling C$500 or more, the CRA table also calls for the buyer's name, a brief description of the property or services, and payment terms. Lower tiers have fewer particulars.Evidence CA_CRA_ITC · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only
• Guidance: GST/HST sales and purchase invoices and related business records are usually kept for six years from the end of the year to which they relate; CRA can require longer retention, and earlier destruction requires written permission.Evidence CA_CRA_GST_RECORDS · reviewed 2026-07-19 · review by 2027-01-19 · automation advisory only

Identifier format guidance: 9 digits, optional 2-letter program identifier + 4-digit reference (e.g. 123456789 or 123456789RT0001)