Affordable Financial Advisors Tax Services for Canadian Businesses

EI benefits are taxable income. Service Canada withholds income tax before each payment reaches you, and the total benefits plus the tax withheld appear on your T4E for the year. That withholding follows a basic calculation rather than your full marginal rate, so people who also worked during the year often end up with a balance owing at filing. Asking Service Canada to withhold more, or setting money aside yourself, avoids a surprise. Higher-income claimants can also have to repay part of their regular benefits through the return.

Usually because the pay for that period is low enough that the basic personal amount covers it. Payroll annualises each cheque, so part-time or irregular hours can produce zero income tax while CPP and EI still come off. Other causes are a TD1 claiming large credits, a claim of exemption from withholding, or being paid as a contractor rather than an employee, in which case nothing is withheld and the tax is yours to set aside and remit.

Two things drive the bill: the assessed value of that specific property and the rate the municipality sets. Assessment reflects size, age, lot, condition, renovations and recent comparable sales, so neighbouring houses rarely match. Rates differ because each council raises what its own budget needs from its own assessment base, and property class matters, with residential, multi-residential and commercial treated differently. A local education levy and area charges for services such as water or transit widen the gap.

Canada has no tax-lien certificate market like the United States. Where property taxes go unpaid, the municipality eventually sells the property itself at a tax sale under provincial rules, with public notice, a minimum bid and tight deposit deadlines; you buy the land, not a lien, and often with limited ability to inspect it. CRA liens are not sold to investors. Any profit on resale is taxable, as business income or a capital gain depending on your intent.

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.

A new assessed value or municipal rate applies for the tax year the municipality sets it for, not from the day you receive the notice. Provincial assessment bodies value properties as at a fixed valuation date and phase increases in over a cycle, then councils set the annual rates, which appear on the final bill rather than the interim one. A reassessment after a renovation or a change in use can be billed back to its effective date.