T2 Return

A tax return is the annual filing that reports your income, deductions and credits to the CRA so the final tax for the year can be settled. Payers withhold tax during the year and the return reconciles that against what you actually owe, producing either a refund or a balance to pay. For 2025 returns filed in 2026, refunds usually arrive in about two weeks for an online return, while a paper return runs on a considerably longer standard because it is handled manually.

Filing is required once tax is owed, and also in several situations regardless of income, including selling property, repaying benefits, splitting pension income, or receiving a request to file from the CRA. Below the basic personal amount most people owe nothing, yet filing still pays: the Canada Child Benefit, the GST/HST credit and provincial credits are all calculated from a filed return. Check the basic personal amount for the year you are filing.

Property tax on a new build starts once the property is assessed as complete and occupiable, not at closing. Until then you are billed on the land alone, and a supplementary or omitted assessment later covers the building, often arriving months afterwards and back-dated to the occupancy or completion date, so budget for a catch-up bill. Separately, a newly built home is generally subject to GST or HST, with a new housing rebate available in some cases.

CRA stands for the Canada Revenue Agency, the federal body that administers income tax, GST/HST, payroll deductions and benefit payments such as the Canada child benefit. It collects for the federal government and, under agreement, for most provinces and territories. Quebec is the main exception: Revenu Quebec administers provincial income tax and the provincial sales tax there. Alberta and Quebec also administer their own corporate income tax.