Crowcery

What the letters on your grocery receipt mean, chain by chain

Almost every Canadian grocery and drugstore receipt prints a short code after each price: GP, MRJ, HMRJ, J, H, C, T. They all answer the same question, whether sales tax was charged on that line, but every chain uses its own alphabet. This page is the lookup table; the per-chain guides go deeper.

Quick lookup

How we know: these meanings come from checking the tax math on real receipts, chain by chain, province by province. Where a chain does not publish what a letter stands for, the page says so rather than guessing.

What does GP mean on a receipt?

GP means the item was taxed. It is the code Shoppers Drug Mart (and Giant Tiger, which uses the same scheme) prints on taxable purchases; it is generally read as "general purchase". The other code on those receipts is N: not taxed, which covers basic groceries and, at Shoppers, prescriptions (printed as N X).

Two things that confuse people on a Shoppers receipt:

Check it yourself: add up the GP lines only and multiply by your province's rate (13% HST in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia, 15% in the other Atlantic provinces; 5% GST plus your PST in the west). That is the tax line at the bottom, to the cent. On a Saskatoon Shoppers receipt with two GP items totalling $8.99, the footer reads 5.0% GST 0.45 and 6.0% PST 0.54: both are exactly that $8.99 base.

What does MRJ mean on a receipt? And HMRJ?

MRJ means no tax was charged; HMRJ means tax was charged. These clusters are the Loblaws family's codes (Real Canadian Superstore, Loblaws, No Frills, Zehrs, Valu-mart, Atlantic Superstore). Only one letter in the cluster affects what you pay:

The letters M, R, J, Q and K are Loblaws-internal product classification flags. The chain does not publish what they stand for, they do not change the price, and the tax math on hundreds of receipts confirms they are not tax markers: a $3.29 bread flagged MRJ is never in the HST base, a $2.50 lemonade flagged HMRJ always is. Full walkthrough with a worked receipt: Superstore and Loblaws tax codes.

What does J mean on a Walmart receipt in Canada?

J means the item was taxed at the full rate: HST in the HST provinces, GST (with the provincial tax on a separate E code) in the west. Walmart Canada prints a single letter after the price:

One tax line can cover several letters: an Ontario receipt's HST 13% is 13% of the J lines plus the A lines together. Worked examples, including the children's-clothing case: Walmart Canada receipt tax codes.

What does H mean on a Costco receipt?

H means HST was charged on that line. Costco prints the flag at the end of the item name, and most grocery lines carry nothing at all (zero-rated):

The footer is where Costco differs from other chains: a combined TAX line above the total, usually followed by a per-tax breakdown such as P HST 14% and G GST 5% below it (a short receipt, or a photo that stops at the total, may show only the combined line). That leading P on the footer line is a footer label, not an item flag. Details and the BOB count: Costco receipt tax codes.

What does C mean on a receipt?

On its own, C means the item was not taxed at Sobeys, FreshCo and Safeway, which all print the same receipt format. The tax marker is what comes before the C:

A Regina Safeway receipt makes the split visible: the 5% GST line is 5% of the BC items plus the GR fees, while the 6% PST line is 6% of the BC items alone.

T, N, H at the other chains

What does HC mean on a grocery receipt?

HC is not a code we have seen printed on any Canadian grocery or drugstore receipt, across every chain above. If your receipt is from a Loblaws-family store, you are most likely looking at HQ (taxed) or a squashed HMRJ; on a Sobeys or Safeway receipt, 1C or BC. In every one of those cases the H or the 1 or the B is what tells you tax was charged. If you have a receipt that really does print HC, we would like to see it.

Why the same letter means different things

Each chain's point-of-sale system invented its own flags, so H is "taxed" at Loblaws, Costco and Dollarama but "not HST" at Walmart, and C is "not taxed" at Sobeys but part of "both taxes" at Safeway. What does not vary is the law underneath: basic groceries (produce, meat, dairy, bread, eggs, staples) are zero-rated everywhere in Canada, and pop, candy, snacks, prepared food and household goods are taxed. The rate depends on the province: one HST line in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces, separate GST and PST lines in BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, GST only in Alberta and the territories. The flag tells you which lines were taxed; the tax line at the bottom tells you at what rate.

More receipt guides

Superstore and Loblaws tax codes (H, MRJ, HMRJ)
Walmart Canada tax codes (D, J, A, Z, Y, G, H)
Costco tax codes (H, G)
Bottle deposits and eco fees by province
All receipt guides