Term Loan

The GST rate is 5%, unchanged since 1 January 2008 and current for 2025 and 2026. It reaches every province and territory, but in five provinces it is folded into the HST: you charge 13% in Ontario, 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, and 14% in Nova Scotia, down from 15% on 1 April 2025. In Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon, 5% applies alone.

Tax exempt describes an amount or a transaction that tax does not apply to at all, which is different from a deduction or credit that merely reduces tax. Common examples are supplies that are exempt or zero-rated for GST/HST, investment income earned inside a TFSA, and specific receipts Parliament has excluded from income. Registered charities and non-profits can be exempt from income tax while still carrying filing duties. Exemption is never automatic; the rule must fit your facts.

Federal tax is the share of income tax that goes to the federal government, charged on taxable income in graduated brackets that are the same everywhere in Canada. Your total bill is that federal amount plus your province or territory's own tax, less the credits you claim. Payroll deductions shown on a T4 cover both layers. Quebec residents receive a refundable abatement of their federal tax because Quebec opted out of certain federal-provincial programs and funds them itself; separately, Quebec also collects its provincial tax through its own return.

It can. Property tax follows assessed value, and a shed, deck, finished basement or addition that adds usable space or quality usually raises the assessment at the next valuation. Provincial assessment authorities pick up permitted work through building permit data, then your municipality applies its own rate to the new value. Property tax is municipal, not a CRA matter, so ask your municipality and read your assessment notice before you build.