Low-Cost Accounting Process Review for Canadian Businesses

Rent on your home is not deductible on a Canadian return. Two situations change that. Self-employed people, and employees who meet the work-space-in-the-home conditions, may claim the share of rent tied to the area used for work. Several provinces also run a property tax or rent based credit, applied for on the provincial schedule filed with your T1, where rent paid affects the amount. Keep receipts and your landlord's details either way.

CRA online filing for 2025 returns opened 23 February 2026 and closes 29 January 2027. Most people file between late February and the 30 April 2026 deadline, and that stretch is what tax season refers to. You can gather documents and prepare a return earlier, but it cannot be sent electronically before the system opens. Employment and investment slips such as T4 and T5 are issued by payers early in the year, and the CRA's Auto-fill service can pull the ones it already holds once you have set up My Account.

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.

Two different categories carry no tax. Zero-rated supplies are taxed at nil, including basic groceries, prescription drugs, medical devices and most agricultural products, and the seller can still claim input tax credits. Exempt supplies, such as most residential rent, health and dental care and financial services, carry no tax and no input tax credits. Small suppliers below the $30,000 threshold, unchanged for 2025 and 2026, also charge nothing until they register. The CRA lists both categories.

Divide the total by one plus the rate. At Ontario's 13% in 2026, a $113 tax-included total is $113 divided by 1.13, or $100 before tax and $13 of HST. Use 1.14 in Nova Scotia, 1.15 in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, and 1.05 where only the 5% GST applies. Multiplying the total by 13 over 113 gives the Ontario tax directly.

Not on a Canadian personal return. Net income there is total income minus deductions such as RRSP contributions and union dues, worked out before any tax is applied, and it is the figure used to test income-tested benefits and credits. In everyday payroll language, net pay does mean what reaches your account after tax and other withholdings. For a corporation it depends on the statement: accounting net income is normally after tax, while the return starts from income before tax.

No. Revenue is income you have earned and belongs on the income statement, not among liabilities. Money taken before you deliver the goods or service is different: unearned or deferred revenue is a liability until you perform the work. Sales tax you collect is also a liability rather than revenue. Booking customer deposits straight to sales is a common error that overstates profit and distorts the figures on your GST/HST return.

Usually yes. Digital services, subscriptions and downloads sold to Canadian customers are taxable supplies, so GST/HST applies at the customer’s provincial rate — 5% GST alone in Alberta, or 13% in Ontario, for instance. Non-resident vendors and platforms selling to Canadian consumers generally have to register and charge tax under the simplified regime. If you sell online, the rate follows where your customer is, not where you are. Some provinces add their own sales tax.

Call the CRA's individual enquiries line and ask to have the account unlocked; the number is on the Contact the Canada Revenue Agency page. Accounts lock after repeated failed sign-ins, and the CRA also revokes access itself when it suspects credentials were compromised. The agent verifies you with your social insurance number, date of birth, address and a figure from a recently filed return, so have a copy of it in front of you.

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.

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.

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.