Free calculator · no account
You paid part of the bill. What does the company claim?
Every line is pro-rated by the company's share, recoverable tax is removed, then the category rule applies: a $176.40 dinner split evenly is $88.20 borne, $43.16 deductible and $1.88 of credit.
Every line is pro-rated before any rule is applied — subtotal, GST/HST, PST and tip together — so the deduction and the credit both sit on what your company bore. Enter the whole bill and your share, and each line separates.
Enter the whole bill and your share, and each line is pro-rated here before any rule.
How it is worked out
Three rules, in this order.
Applied by the same engine that runs inside the app. This page is not a separate copy of them.
The share, first
Subtotal, GST/HST, PST and tip are each multiplied by your company’s percentage before anything else happens. Doing it in this order is what keeps both figures on what your company actually paid, rather than on a bill someone else was half of.
Then the category’s own rule
A client meal is halved under ITA s.67.1 — on the share, not the receipt. An ordinary business expense is not restricted, so the whole share is deductible. Nothing else about the split changes which rule applies. CRA: food, beverages and entertainment expenses.
The credit, on your share of the GST/HST
The credit is taken on the tax your company bore, at the same percentage as the deduction. PST is excluded entirely and the tip carries no tax, so both lift the deduction without lifting the credit. CRA: claim input tax credits.
What this does not account for
- Whether the share is the right one. The percentage is yours to state and yours to justify. What makes it defensible is a note of who else was on the bill and why the split fell where it did — which is a record, not a figure.
- Shared client gifts. Not offered here on purpose: the answer turns on whether the gift is food or entertainment, and a form that quietly assumed “no” would say 100% about a shared restaurant gift card. Use the gift calculator.
- Staff events. A shared staff event is still counted against the six-event limit, which this page knows nothing about.
- Foreign currency. A bill in another currency has to be converted before any of this. The app does that at the Bank of Canada rate for the date; this page assumes Canadian dollars.
- Rounding. On any receipt whose share does not divide evenly, four independently rounded lines can differ from the pro-rated total by a penny. The tip line — the last one shown — absorbs that cent, so the column always sums to the claimed total, which stays the figure the deduction is taken on.
- Whether you are registered for GST/HST. The credit assumes the corporation is a registrant. If it is not, there is no input tax credit.
Rules as they stand for the 2026 tax year, checked against the CRA sources linked above, each on or since 14 September 2026.
Questions
About shared bills and the CRA.
We split the bill with another company. What can I claim?
Your company's share of it, less recoverable tax, and then whatever rule the net expense attracts. Every line is pro-rated first — subtotal, GST/HST, PST and tip alike. A $176.40 dinner split evenly is $88.20 borne, with $1.88 of the $3.75 GST recoverable and $43.16 deductible under the 50% meal limit.
Do I pro-rate first or apply the rule first?
Pro-rate first. Taking your share and then applying the rule is what keeps every figure anchored to what your company paid, and it is the order the CRA's own arithmetic implies: your input tax credit is a fraction of tax you actually bore, not of tax someone else paid. It also keeps the record honest when the share is not a round half.
Which receipt do I keep — mine or the whole one?
The whole one, as printed, with the share noted against it. The receipt is the document the CRA asks to see, and a card slip showing only your half proves neither what was bought nor how much tax was on it. On a receipt of $100 or more you also need the supplier's GST/HST registration number, which is on the itemised bill and almost never on the slip.
How do I claim a GST/HST credit on a share of a bill?
On your share of the GST/HST line, and on nothing else. Half of $7.50 is $3.75; if the expense is a client meal the 50% limit halves that again to $1.88. PST is never an input tax credit at any share, so on a British Columbia bill it stays out of the credit entirely while still counting as part of what you paid.
Is the tip split too?
Yes, at the same percentage as everything else. A tip is part of the cost of the meal, so it is deductible at whatever percentage the expense attracts — but no tax is charged on it, so it lifts your share of the deduction without lifting your share of the credit.
What if the split is not even?
Enter the share you actually bore. Three ways is 33.33; a company paying for two of five people is 40. The percentage is applied to every line, so an uneven split needs no other adjustment — and the note of why the share was what it was belongs on the record beside the receipt.
Does the category change the answer?
It changes what happens after the share is taken. A shared client meal is halved under section 67.1; an ordinary business expense your company part-paid is not restricted at all, so the whole share is deductible with the whole share of the GST/HST recoverable. This page offers those two. A shared client gift is deliberately not here, because that answer turns on whether the gift is food or entertainment — a question the gift calculator asks properly.
The share is a number. The reason for it is a record.
A year later, nothing on the receipt says why your company bore 40% of it. LedgerLodge stores the printed receipt and the share on one record, applies the category rule to the share, and puts both figures on the export your accountant reads.