Crowcery
Every line on a Real Canadian Superstore, Loblaws, No Frills, Zehrs, Valu-mart or Atlantic Superstore receipt ends with a short cluster of capital letters: things like H, MRJ, HMRJ or RQ. Here is what those letters actually tell you.
The cluster is a set of product classification flags. For your wallet, only one letter counts:
| What you see | What it means |
|---|---|
| H anywhere in the cluster (H, HMRJ, HMR, HRJ, HQ) | Sales tax (HST or GST, depending on your province) was charged on this item. |
| No H (MRJ, MR, RQ, KR, Q, or nothing at all) | No sales tax on this item. Most basic groceries fall here. |
The other letters (M, R, J, Q, K) are Loblaws-internal product classification flags. Their exact meanings are not published by the chain, and they do not change what you pay. If you are checking your receipt math, you can ignore everything except whether an H is present.
The first and third items carry an H, so they were taxed. The bread was not. The long number at the start of each line is the item's barcode, and a (2) prefix means two units rang in on one line. Notice the HST line only covers the H items: $2.50 + $5.00 = $7.50, and 14% of that is the $1.05 charged (this receipt is from Nova Scotia).
This is federal and provincial tax law, not a store decision. In Canada, "basic groceries" (produce, meat, dairy, bread, eggs, most staples) are zero-rated: no GST or HST applies. But plenty of supermarket items do not count as basic groceries:
| Usually taxed (expect an H) | Usually not taxed |
|---|---|
| Pop, sparkling water and other carbonated drinks | Milk, juice (large formats) |
| Candy, chocolate, chips and most snack foods | Bread, flour, sugar, produce, meat, eggs |
| Prepared and heated foods from the deli counter | The same food sold cold as groceries, in most cases |
| Household goods: soap, paper towels, pet food, batteries |
What prints at the bottom of the receipt depends on where you shop. HST provinces show one combined line; the others show GST and any provincial tax as separate lines:
| Province | Tax line(s) on the receipt | Rate on taxable items |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | HST | 13% |
| Nova Scotia | HST | 14% (lowered from 15% on April 1, 2025) |
| New Brunswick | HST | 15% |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | HST | 15% |
| Prince Edward Island | HST | 15% |
| British Columbia | GST + PST | 5% + 7% |
| Manitoba | GST + PST | 5% + 7% |
| Saskatchewan | GST + PST | 5% + 6% |
| Alberta, Yukon, NWT, Nunavut | GST only | 5% |
| Quebec | GST (TPS) + QST (TVQ) | 5% + 9.975% |
In the GST + PST provinces the two taxes have different rules: an item can carry GST but be exempt from PST (or the reverse), so the letter flags mark which items were taxed while the tax lines show exactly which taxes applied. The receipt always prints the rate it used, so trust what is printed when checking the math.
Add up only the items with an H in their cluster, then multiply by your province's rate. That number should match the HST (or GST) line near the bottom of the receipt, to the cent. If it does not, the usual culprit is a discount line: member pricing and multi-buy deals reduce the taxable amount before the tax is calculated.
All Loblaws-banner grocery stores print the same receipt format, so this guide applies at Real Canadian Superstore, Loblaws, No Frills, Zehrs, Valu-mart and Atlantic Superstore alike. Other chains use different conventions: Walmart Canada prints single letters (Z, J, D, Y), Sobeys prints 1C for taxable and C for zero-rated, and Shoppers Drug Mart uses drugstore flags (GP, N, S, H). Same idea everywhere: one compact code per item that tells you whether tax applied.
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