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ISO subdivision codes for states and provinces

ISO 3166-2 codes for US states and Canadian provinces, why the province decides Canada's GST, HST, PST or QST on imports, and how subdivision codes are built.

Updated · 7 official sources

An ISO 3166-2 subdivision code is the country's two-letter ISO code, a hyphen and up to three characters for a state or province, such as CA-ON for Ontario or CA-QC for Quebec. Wherever a tax changes below the country level, as Canada's sales taxes and US state sales taxes do, the subdivision is part of the price, so checkouts and tax engines need it as a clean field.

Rules as of 30 October 2026.

How are ISO 3166-2 codes built?#

An ISO 3166-2 code joins a country's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code, a separator and up to three letters or digits for one of its principal subdivisions. The part after the hyphen can't stand alone, because the same letters mean different places in different countries: ISO's own example is ID-RI for Riau in Indonesia and NG-RI for Rivers in Nigeria.

ISO usually takes the subdivision part from codes already in use in the country, which is why Canada's ISO codes reuse Canada Post's province symbols and the US codes reuse the familiar two-letter state abbreviations. The same rule explains the trap: "CA" alone is California in a US address and the whole of Canada as a country code, and only the prefix tells them apart. Country codes themselves are covered in country codes.

Why do subdivision codes matter for tax?#

Subdivision codes matter for tax wherever a rate, or the tax itself, changes at state or province level. Canada is the clearest case for imports: for casual shipments, the province where goods are released decides whether the buyer pays GST alone, GST plus a provincial sales tax, or one harmonized sales tax, collected at the border.

In the United States, sales tax is set state by state rather than nationally. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair overruled the old physical presence rule, states have been able to require sellers with no presence in the state to collect their sales tax, so a US seller's tax depends on the buyer's state as well as their own. In a country that charges import VAT or GST at one national rate, the subdivision is just part of the address.

What are the codes and taxes for Canada's provinces?#

Canada's 13 provinces and territories each have an ISO code built from Canada Post's two-letter symbol. On casual, non-commercial imports, the five harmonized provinces charge HST, Quebec adds QST to the GST, three provinces add a provincial sales tax, and Alberta and the territories charge GST alone. Rates are the Canada Revenue Agency's, unchanged since 1 April 2025.

Province or territory ISO 3166-2 Tax on casual imports Rate
Alberta CA-AB GST 5%
British Columbia CA-BC GST + PST 5% + 7%
Manitoba CA-MB GST + PST 5% + 7%
New Brunswick CA-NB HST 15%
Newfoundland and Labrador CA-NL HST 15%
Northwest Territories CA-NT GST 5%
Nova Scotia CA-NS HST 14%
Nunavut CA-NU GST 5%
Ontario CA-ON HST 13%
Prince Edward Island CA-PE HST 15%
Quebec CA-QC GST + QST 5% + 9.975%
Saskatchewan CA-SK GST + PST 5% + 6%
Yukon CA-YT GST 5%

Here's what that means for one CAD 200 order of goods that pay no customs duty, shipped as a casual import above Canada's low-value thresholds. Each provincial tax is worked out on the same value as the GST:

Released in Tax Amount
Alberta GST 5% CAD 10.00
Ontario HST 13% CAD 26.00
British Columbia GST 5% + PST 7% CAD 24.00
Quebec GST 5% + QST 9.975% CAD 29.95

The same box costs the buyer CAD 19.95 more in Quebec than in Alberta. The Canada import rules show the low-value thresholds, and the landed cost calculator works out duty and tax for a Canadian address.

What are the codes for US states?#

US state codes are the two-letter abbreviations the US Postal Service uses, and the ISO 3166-2 code adds the US prefix, so California is US-CA. The table lists the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands have their own country codes too.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia
State Code ISO 3166-2
Alabama AL US-AL
Alaska AK US-AK
Arizona AZ US-AZ
Arkansas AR US-AR
California CA US-CA
Colorado CO US-CO
Connecticut CT US-CT
Delaware DE US-DE
District of Columbia DC US-DC
Florida FL US-FL
Georgia GA US-GA
Hawaii HI US-HI
Idaho ID US-ID
Illinois IL US-IL
Indiana IN US-IN
Iowa IA US-IA
Kansas KS US-KS
Kentucky KY US-KY
Louisiana LA US-LA
Maine ME US-ME
Maryland MD US-MD
Massachusetts MA US-MA
Michigan MI US-MI
Minnesota MN US-MN
Mississippi MS US-MS
Missouri MO US-MO
Montana MT US-MT
Nebraska NE US-NE
Nevada NV US-NV
New Hampshire NH US-NH
New Jersey NJ US-NJ
New Mexico NM US-NM
New York NY US-NY
North Carolina NC US-NC
North Dakota ND US-ND
Ohio OH US-OH
Oklahoma OK US-OK
Oregon OR US-OR
Pennsylvania PA US-PA
Rhode Island RI US-RI
South Carolina SC US-SC
South Dakota SD US-SD
Tennessee TN US-TN
Texas TX US-TX
Utah UT US-UT
Vermont VT US-VT
Virginia VA US-VA
Washington WA US-WA
West Virginia WV US-WV
Wisconsin WI US-WI
Wyoming WY US-WY

What about other countries?#

Other countries have ISO 3166-2 codes for their states, regions or provinces too, from Australia's states to Mexico's and Brazil's, and India's states and union territories. Whether the subdivision changes what an import pays depends on how each country taxes imports, so check the destination's own rules rather than assuming the Canadian pattern.

Our country guides for Australia, Mexico, Brazil and India explain how each one taxes imports. Store the subdivision as its own field with the full ISO code, prefix included, and validate it against the country: a bare "CA" is ambiguous, and an address with the wrong state can be taxed at the wrong rate.

Common questions#

What is the ISO code for Ontario?#

CA-ON. Canada's ISO subdivision codes are CA- followed by Canada Post's two-letter province symbol.

Does the province matter for imports into Canada?#

Yes. For casual shipments, the province where the goods are released decides whether GST, HST, PST or QST applies, and the Canada Border Services Agency collects it.

Why does Quebec's tax show two rates?#

Quebec charges its own sales tax, QST at 9.975%, alongside the 5% federal GST, and on imports both are worked out on the same value.

Sources#