POS system for Alberta businesses
Alberta has no provincial sales tax, so most sales carry only the 5% GST. The setup in SeroPOS is short: one GST rate, a 0% rate for zero-rated and exempt items, and a card terminal.
Alberta in SeroPOS
One GST rate
Add GST at 5% once and make it the default tax, so every new product is taxed correctly from the start.
A 0% rate for exemptions
Zero-rated items such as basic groceries and exempt services take a 0% rate, so they show clearly as untaxed on receipts and reports.
GST number on receipts
Print your GST registration number in the receipt header from the app's Edit Restaurant screen or the back office Tax settings.
Interac and tap
Take debit and credit on Moneris Go or Global Payments terminals, with the amount sent from the till.
GST collected by period
The Tax Report shows GST on sales against GST paid on purchases and expenses for any date range.
QuickBooks Canada
On Pro, sales and GST post to QuickBooks Desktop Canadian edition or QuickBooks Online for Canadian companies.
Alberta sales tax at a glance
Alberta is the only province with no provincial sales tax, so for most businesses the only sales tax is the federal GST at 5%, registered and filed with the Canada Revenue Agency. That makes the tax setup simpler than in BC or Saskatchewan, but you still need to separate taxable, zero-rated and exempt sales so your GST return is right.
Basic groceries, many agricultural products and some medical devices are zero-rated, which means GST applies at 0%. Some services, such as many health and financial services, are exempt. Restaurant meals and snack foods are taxable. Confirm the current rules and rate with the CRA as of 2026, especially if you sell a mix of grocery and prepared food.
Setting up GST in SeroPOS
In the back office open Settings, then Tax Rates, and add GST at 5%. Add a second rate at 0% and name it something clear, such as "Zero-rated" or "GST exempt". In the app the same list is under Admin, then Taxes, where you can also set GST as the default tax so new products pick it up automatically.
When you add products, choose GST or the 0% rate in the tax field. If you price some items tax-in, tick "price includes tax" on those products and SeroPOS works the GST back out. You don't need a tax group in Alberta unless you also sell in another province or collect a separate levy you want shown on its own line.
- GST 5%: the default for taxable sales
- 0%: zero-rated groceries and exempt items
- Price includes tax: optional, per product
Grocery, convenience and mixed stores
A convenience store or grocer in Calgary or Edmonton often sells taxable and zero-rated items in the same basket: milk and bread at 0%, chips and soft drinks at 5%. Because the tax sits on each product, the cashier scans and SeroPOS taxes each line. Import products in bulk from a spreadsheet with the tax column filled in, and check the result before you open.
If you sell by weight, connect a scale to the till or type the weight on the keypad, and each weighed item keeps its own tax. The Daily Sales Report's Product Taxes section then shows how much GST came from which products, so you can spot an item that was set up with the wrong rate.
Card terminals that talk to the till
In Alberta most customers pay by Interac debit or tap, so the card terminal matters as much as the till. SeroPOS works with Moneris Go terminals and with Global Payments, either through Global Pay Cloud, which needs no cable or IP address, or with SeroPOS running on the Global Payments T650P handheld itself through Terminal Plus.
Each till can have its own terminal, set under Card Terminal for This Till, so a front counter and a bar charge on separate devices. Tips entered on the terminal print on the receipt, partial approvals ask for the balance on another card or in cash, and Close Batch prints a day-end summary from the till.
Already have a merchant account? Keep it if your processor is supported. If you want to compare costs, send us a recent statement and we'll quote a rate. Card processing is arranged separately from your SeroPOS plan. Tell us your monthly card volume and the terminals you use today, and we can say which setup fits your counter before you commit.
Tax reports and QuickBooks Canada
The Tax Report in the back office shows output tax on sales, input tax on purchases and tax on expenses, with an overall figure and the invoices behind each number, filtered by location and date range. The Daily Sales Report adds a tax summary for remittance, and it can be downloaded as a PDF or emailed at day end.
On the Pro plan SeroPOS sends sales, payments, customers and items to QuickBooks. QuickBooks Desktop, Canadian edition 2021 or later (Pro, Premier or Enterprise on Windows), connects through the Web Connector, and SeroPOS can build the GST tax items, groups and codes there for you, matched by rate rather than by name. QuickBooks Online for Canadian companies is supported too, with each SeroPOS rate mapped to a QuickBooks tax code.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need PST in my POS in Alberta?
No. Alberta has no provincial sales tax, so most businesses only charge GST at 5%. Set GST as your default tax rate in SeroPOS and add a 0% rate for zero-rated and exempt items. If you also sell into other provinces, add their rates as separate tax groups.
How do I handle zero-rated items like groceries?
Create a tax rate at 0% and assign it to zero-rated products. They then show as untaxed on the receipt and sit in their own line in reports. Keeping them on a named 0% rate, rather than no tax at all, makes it clear the choice was deliberate.
Which card terminals work with SeroPOS in Alberta?
SeroPOS works with Moneris Go terminals and with Global Payments, through Global Pay Cloud or with SeroPOS running on the T650P handheld. The till sends the amount, the customer taps or inserts their card, and the result and any tip come back to the sale.
Are these Alberta tax rates current?
The rates on this page are the well-known public rates as of 2026. Rates and exemptions change, so confirm them with the Canada Revenue Agency before you open, and again whenever a budget is announced. In SeroPOS a rate is stored once and reused by every product and group, so a change is a single edit.
How much does SeroPOS cost in Canada?
Standard is $30 a month and Pro is $50 a month, with a 14-day free trial and no card needed. Standard covers the full POS for one location and three users. Pro adds the floor plan designer, multi-till, CRM, recipes, advanced reports, QuickBooks and WooCommerce.