Tax & Accounting for Legal Consultants & Paralegals

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.

Income tax starts once taxable income passes the basic personal amount, and a separate provincial or territorial amount applies on top, so the break-even point shifts every year with indexation and differs by where you live. Look up the current amounts on the CRA site or in the year's return package. Credits for tuition, disability, pension income or dependants push the point higher. Filing can still be worthwhile or required with no tax owing, for benefits and credits.

Only if you are authorised first. The CRA will not discuss an account with anyone who is not on file as a representative, even a spouse or adult child. The taxpayer can add you online through My Account, or you can submit an AUT-01 with their signature. For someone who cannot sign, the CRA needs legal documents such as a power of attorney or estate paperwork. Authorisation can be limited to view-only access.

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.

That figure is your payroll deduction rate, not a tax bracket. Canada's federal rates for 2026 start at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%, and what leaves your cheque blends federal and provincial tax with CPP at 5.95% and EI at $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings for 2026. Payroll also annualises each cheque, so a bonus or overtime period is taxed as if every period looked the same. Filing squares it up.

A T4E is the slip Service Canada issues for Employment Insurance and certain related benefits. It shows the total benefits paid, income tax already withheld, any benefits you had to repay and any benefit repayment required because of your income level. Report the amounts on your personal return on the line for Employment Insurance and other benefits, not on the employment income line — EI benefits are taxable but they are not employment income. Keep the slip even where no tax was withheld, because the benefits remain taxable and the CRA already holds a copy.