Affordable GST/HST Tax Filing Services

Most people pay through online or telephone banking, adding the CRA as a payee and choosing the exact account and year, such as a personal balance owing or an instalment. The alternatives are CRA My Payment with a debit card, pre-authorised debit scheduled in My Account, a credit card or e-transfer through a third-party provider that charges its own fee, or paying at your bank with a remittance voucher. For the 2025 tax year the balance was due 30 April 2026.

Multiply the pre-tax price by the combined sales tax rate for the province where the sale takes place, then add that amount to the price. In HST provinces it is one rate; elsewhere GST and the provincial tax are applied separately, and in Quebec the QST is calculated on the price before GST rather than on a GST-included amount. Zero-rated and exempt items get nothing added. The place of supply decides the rate, not where your business is based.

Taxable income is what is left after you total the income the tax rules include and subtract the deductions you are allowed. Employment and self-employment earnings, most pensions, EI and CPP benefits, interest, dividends, rental profit, the taxable portion of capital gains, RRSP and RRIF withdrawals and most taxable benefits from work all go into the total. Tax is then calculated on that figure and reduced by non-refundable credits such as the basic personal amount.

The route depends on the structure. A sole proprietor or partner reports business income on Form T2125 and files it with the personal T1 return; for the 2025 year the self-employed filing deadline was 15 June 2026, while any balance owing was due 30 April 2026. An incorporated business files a separate T2 corporate return for each fiscal year, due six months after that year end, on top of whatever the owner reports personally.

Two groups escape GST/HST. Zero-rated supplies are taxable at nil: basic groceries, prescription drugs, most medical devices, farm and fishing products, and exports. Exempt supplies carry no tax and give the seller no input tax credit: long-term residential rent, where continuous occupancy is at least one month, most health, dental and child care services, tuition for qualifying courses, and many financial services. Short-term accommodation is taxable, not exempt, so a furnished rental let by the night or the week carries GST/HST. Everything else is taxable at the combined rate for the province where the supply is made.

Your municipality sets that, not the CRA. Most Canadian municipalities issue an interim bill and a final bill each year, each payable in one or more instalments, and many also offer a monthly pre-authorised plan spread across the year. If your mortgage lender pays the tax on your behalf, you contribute a portion with each mortgage payment instead. Your tax bill or your municipality's website lists the exact instalment dates for your property.

There is no single figure, because the amount depends on your income, your province and which taxes are counted. Studies that quote an average usually bundle income tax, payroll contributions, sales tax and property tax together, which is why published numbers differ so widely. For your own position, divide the total tax shown on your notice of assessment by your total income to get your effective rate, then compare that with later years rather than with a national average.

Canadian sellers advertise pre-tax prices and add GST, HST or provincial sales tax at the till. Nothing requires tax-included pricing, rates differ by province, and taxability depends on what is sold: one trip to the till can mix fully taxable goods, zero-rated goods such as basic groceries, and exempt supplies. Fuel is the exception — the price posted at the pump already contains the fuel taxes and the GST or HST, so nothing is added when you pay.

Federal personal income tax arrived in 1917, when the Income War Tax Act was passed as a temporary measure to help finance the First World War. It reached only a small number of high earners at first, and although it was passed as a temporary wartime measure the tax was never withdrawn: the Income War Tax Act was replaced by a new Income Tax Act after the Second World War, and today's Act descends from that line. A federal tax on business profits had been introduced the year before, and the personal system broadened steadily over the following decades as rates, credits and withholding were added.

File on time anyway, then deal with the balance separately, because the late-filing penalty is avoidable even when the payment is not. The CRA accepts payment arrangements, where you propose instalments you can meet and usually disclose income and expenses to support them. Interest keeps running, so pay what you can immediately and arrange the remainder. Where penalties and interest built up through illness, disaster or CRA delay, Form RC4288 asks for taxpayer relief. A free 15-minute consultation can help you choose the route.