Retail Sales Tax Exemption for Nicotine Replacement Therapies

Information Notice 58
Published: August 2008
Content last reviewed: August 2010
ISBN: 978-1-4249-7828-1 (Print), 978-1-4249-7830-4 (PDF), 978-1-4249-7829-8 (HTML)

Notice to the reader: For Retail Sales Tax (RST) – On July 1, 2010 the 13 per cent Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) took effect in Ontario replacing the existing provincial Retail Sales Tax (RST) and combining it with the federal Goods and Services Tax (GST). As a result, RST provisions described on this page and in other publications ended on June 30, 2010.

Effective July 1, 2010 this publication was archived for RST purposes only. Use caution when you refer to it, since it reflects the law in force for RST at the time it was released and may no longer apply.

This Notice explains the point-of-sale Retail Sales Tax (RST) exemption for nicotine replacement therapies.

Exempt Products

A temporary point-of-sale exemption was introduced on August 13, 2007 for non-prescription nicotine replacement therapies that have been assigned a Drug Identification Number by the federal government and that are sold for the sole purpose of assisting the purchaser to stop smoking tobacco. Effective March 26, 2008 this exemption became permanent and applies to nicotine replacement therapies that have been assigned a Drug Identification Number or a Natural Product Number by the federal government.

Nicotine replacement therapies come in a variety of delivery mechanisms, including transdermal patches, gums, lozenges, inhalers, sprays and sublingual tablets.

Taxable Products

Products that claim to be nicotine replacement therapies, but are not registered with a Drug Identification Number or a Natural Product Number assigned by the federal government, remain taxable.

For More Information

The information in this notice is only a guideline and does not replace the legislation.

To obtain additional information, please contact the Ontario Ministry of Finance at 1 866 ONT-TAXS (1 866 668-8297), Teletypewriter (TTY) 1 800 263-7776, or visit our website at ontario.ca/finance.