Affordable Trust & Estate Tax Filing Services

File a T1 return for the year, sending it electronically with CRA-certified software or mailing a paper return. Gather your slips and receipts first and check them against the ones listed in My Account. For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline was 30 April 2026, or 15 June 2026 to file if you or your spouse were self-employed, with payment still due 30 April 2026. CRA online filing for 2025 returns closes 29 January 2027.

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.

Canada taxes income at graduated rates: federal brackets plus your province's brackets apply, and only the income sitting inside a bracket is taxed at that bracket's rate. The rate on your next dollar is your marginal rate, while the share of your total income you actually pay is lower, because credits such as the basic personal amount shelter the first slice. Look up the current federal and provincial brackets for your province, or run your figures through the CRA payroll calculator.

Yes. A personal T1 can be prepared and filed by the taxpayer through CRA-certified software, and a straightforward year of employment slips and a few credits is manageable. Corporate filing is harder: a T2 has to reconcile to financial statements, and for tax years beginning after 2023 electronic filing is mandatory for essentially every corporation regardless of gross revenue. Self-employment, rental property, investments sold during the year, a move between provinces and foreign income are where self-filed returns most often go wrong.

Service Canada issues the T4E, not your employer. The quickest route is My Service Canada Account, where the slip sits under tax information and can be printed. A paper copy also goes to the address on file, and the slip is loaded into CRA My Account, so tax software using Auto-fill my return can pull it in directly. If nothing appears, call Service Canada, and report the benefits on your return even while waiting for the slip.

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.

Property tax is an annual charge a municipality levies on real estate to fund local services such as roads, water, policing, fire and schools. A provincial assessment authority values the property, council sets a tax rate in its budget, and the bill is the assessed value multiplied by the rate for your property class. Unpaid amounts stay attached to the property itself. It is separate from income tax, so the city bills it, not the CRA.

A ratepayer is someone who pays municipal rates, meaning property taxes and local utility charges, on property they own or occupy. The municipality sets a rate against assessed value, bills the ratepayer, and funds local services from what it collects; ratepayer associations speak for owners in an area. Property tax is municipal and quite separate from income tax, though on a rental or business property it is generally deductible against that income.

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.

A sole proprietor pays no separate business tax. Net profit is reported on Form T2125 with your T1, added to your other income, and taxed at the graduated federal and provincial rates that apply to your total for the year. On top of income tax you owe CPP contributions on net self-employment earnings covering both the employee and employer share, and EI only if you opt into special benefits. Instalments may be required once the balance grows.