What is capital cost allowance (CCA) in Canada?

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse were self-employed, the filing deadline moves to 15 June 2026, but any balance owing is still due 30 April 2026. Interest starts the day after the payment deadline, and a late-filing penalty applies on top when a return with a balance owing is filed late. File on time even with nothing owing, because income-tested benefits are recalculated from the filed return.

For 2025 returns filed in 2026, most online returns are processed in about two weeks, and a non-resident return can take up to sixteen weeks. A paper return runs on a considerably longer standard because it is handled manually. Those timeframes assume a complete return that is not pulled for review. Register direct deposit and track progress in CRA My Account rather than waiting on a posted cheque.

As the rules stand for the 2025 tax year filed in 2026, the late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% of that balance for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months, so 17% at worst. It rises to 10% plus 2% per month for up to 20 months, a 50% maximum, but only where the CRA formally demanded the return and had already charged a late-filing penalty for any of the three preceding tax years. Interest compounds daily.

If you owe nothing, no penalty applies, but a refund and benefit payments such as the Canada child benefit and the GST/HST credit are held up until the return is processed. If you owe, a late-filing penalty is charged and interest runs on the balance and compounds daily from the day after the due date. For the 2025 tax year the deadline was 30 April 2026. File even if you cannot pay, because the penalty is driven by filing, not payment.

Yes. Nothing blocks filing a very late personal return, and the CRA will process a 2015 T1 that was never filed. Expect interest and a late-filing penalty on any balance owing. A refund is a different matter: the CRA's power to issue one for a year that old runs out, so read the CRA taxpayer relief page before counting on money back. Filing still matters for benefit entitlement, and unfiled years can bring an arbitrary assessment.

Call the benefit enquiries line, but check My Account first: it shows your payment dates and amounts, and any letter asking you to prove marital status, residency or who the child lives with. Most stopped or reduced payments trace back to an unfiled return, because entitlement is recalculated every July from both partners' returns for the previous year. File the missing return and payments generally restart, with back payments where you still qualify.

No. Capital is the owner's stake in the business, so it sits in equity, not liabilities. On a balance sheet, assets equal liabilities plus equity, and the capital account belongs on the equity side alongside retained earnings. Money the owner lends the business is different, because the business owes it back, and that is a liability. Keeping owner capital, owner loans and drawings in separate accounts prevents a messy reconciliation at year end.

No. Drugs dispensed on a prescription are zero-rated, so no HST applies to the medication or to the dispensing fee in Ontario. Products bought without a prescription are usually taxable, even those kept behind the pharmacy counter, though a short list of non-prescription drugs is zero-rated. Many medical devices and mobility aids are zero-rated as well, while vitamins and supplements are taxable. Your pharmacy receipt separates the taxable items from the untaxed ones.