Empowering E-Commerce Businesses in Canada With Affordable Tax Filing

Property tax is billed by your municipality, not the CRA, so payment goes to the city or town that issued the bill. Most municipalities accept online or telephone banking once you add the property tax roll number as a payee, pre-authorised instalment plans, cheque, or payment at your bank. If your mortgage lender collects tax with your mortgage payment, the lender remits it for you. Condominium owners get their own bill, separate from monthly condo fees.

Most municipalities do not take credit cards for property tax directly. They accept pre-authorised debit, online or telephone banking, cheque, and in-person payment. Third-party payment processors will charge a property tax bill to a card for a service fee, which normally costs more than the rewards earned. The CRA works the same way for income tax and GST/HST: no direct card payment, but authorised third-party providers accept cards for a fee.

A write-off is simply a deductible expense. You subtract it from the income it helped earn, so the saving equals the expense multiplied by your marginal tax rate, not the full amount spent. To qualify, the cost must be incurred to earn business or employment income, be reasonable in amount, and be backed by a receipt. Purely personal costs never qualify, and mixed-use items such as a vehicle or a home office are split by business-use proportion.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis individuals pay the same federal and provincial taxes as everyone else, with one narrow exception. Under the Indian Act, a registered status Indian is exempt on income situated on a reserve, judged by connecting factors such as where the work is performed and where the employer is based. Off-reserve employment income is taxable. Related rules can relieve GST/HST on goods delivered to a reserve. Métis and non-status individuals do not get the exemption.

A write-off is an expense deducted from income so that tax applies to a smaller amount. It is not a refund of what you spent: the saving equals the expense multiplied by your marginal rate. Employees may deduct very little, while a business or self-employed person can deduct reasonable costs incurred to earn income, though categories such as meals and entertainment, vehicles and home office are restricted. Keep receipts, because the CRA can ask for them years later.

Zoning matters because assessment and taxation follow a property's classification and actual use. Residential, multi-residential, commercial, industrial and farm classes carry different municipal rates, so rezoning or a genuine change of use can move a property into a class taxed differently. Assessed value can also reflect development potential permitted by the zoning. Ask your municipality and your provincial assessment authority what a rezoning would do to the class and the bill before you apply.

It stays out of taxable income but often counts elsewhere. Amounts such as most lottery winnings and income earned inside a TFSA are not taxed at all. Some other receipts are exempt from tax yet still have to be reported, because the CRA uses net income and family net income to test benefits and credits. So an amount that costs you no tax can still reduce a benefit. Lenders and landlords apply their own definitions again.

Yes. In Canada the tax on land and buildings is called property tax and is levied by the municipality; real estate tax is the American term for the same charge, so results using that wording often describe a US system. Property tax is not income tax and the CRA does not administer it. On a rental or business property it is a deductible operating expense, while on a personal residence it is not deductible.

Only for specific purposes. Fees paid to collect or establish a right to salary, wages, a pension, severance or support amounts, and fees to object to or appeal a CRA assessment, are claimed in the deductions section of the T1, on the line the CRA's guide names. Legal costs of earning business or rental income belong on the T2125 or the rental statement. Fees to acquire property are usually added to its cost instead of deducted.

Selling a home is not automatically taxable, but every sale must be reported on your return. If it was your principal residence for all the years you owned it, the gain is usually fully exempt; otherwise the taxable portion is a capital gain, included at one-half (50%) for 2025 and 2026. What you do with the proceeds does not change the tax on the sale itself, though moving cash into a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA shelters future growth within your available room.

You owe a balance when the tax withheld or paid during the year came to less than your total tax for the year. Common causes are two employers each applying the basic personal amount, self-employment or rental income with no withholding at all, investment income, RRSP withdrawals taxed at a flat rate, and CPP or OAS with little tax taken off. For the 2025 tax year the balance was due 30 April 2026. Extra withholding or instalments stops it recurring.

A delivery charge normally takes the tax status of the goods being delivered. Charge GST/HST on freight added to a taxable sale, and treat freight on zero-rated goods such as basic groceries as zero-rated too. Where the customer engages an independent carrier directly, that carrier bills its own service, and interprovincial and international freight have their own treatment. The province of supply decides the rate you apply.