Budget-Friendly Accounting Software Migration for Canadian Businesses

Gather your slips and receipts, then use NETFILE certified software and its auto-fill feature to pull in the slips the CRA already holds. Add what the CRA cannot see, such as self-employment income, medical expenses, donations and child care, review the summary line by line, and file electronically. For the 2025 tax year the deadline was 30 April 2026, or 15 June 2026 where you or your spouse were self-employed, with any balance still due 30 April 2026.

Car insurance is claimable only for the business or employment use of a vehicle, never for personal driving. Keep a log of business kilometres and total kilometres for the year, then claim that share of insurance along with fuel, repairs, licence fees and loan interest. Employees need their employer to certify in writing that the vehicle was required for the job. Driving between home and a regular workplace counts as personal use.

For 2026 employees outside Quebec pay Employment Insurance premiums at 1.63% of insurable earnings, up to maximum insurable earnings of $68,900, giving a maximum employee premium of $1,123.07. Quebec employees pay a reduced 1.30%, capped at $895.70, because the province runs its own parental insurance plan. Employers pay 1.4 times the employee amount unless they qualify for a reduced rate. Premiums stop once the annual cap is reached.

HST stands for harmonized sales tax: the federal 5% GST blended with a participating province's sales tax into one rate the CRA administers. For 2026 that is 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025, and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island. Provinces that did not harmonise keep a separate provincial tax on top of the 5% GST, and Alberta, Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut charge 5% only.

Make it routine rather than an April scramble. Record income and expenses monthly, keep receipts and statements for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to, and check CRA My Account for slips, notices, balances and instalment reminders. Pay instalments when the CRA asks for them. Set aside a share of self-employment income as it arrives, and register for direct deposit. A mid-year review is when planning can still change the result.

Canadian-source income is income whose origin is in Canada: employment carried out here, a business carried on here, rent from Canadian real property, gains on taxable Canadian property, and Canadian pension, dividend and interest payments. It matters most for non-residents, who are taxed only on Canadian-source amounts, often by withholding at the payer rather than by filing. Residents are taxed on worldwide income instead. A tax treaty can reduce the withholding rate for your country.

An exempt supply is a sale that GST/HST does not apply to at all, and the supplier cannot claim input tax credits on the costs of making it. Typical examples are long-term residential rent, most financial services including interest and insurance, many health and dental services, child care, and most services provided by public sector bodies. Exempt sales also stay outside the $30,000 small-supplier threshold test, which for 2026 counts taxable revenue only.

A write-off is an expense deducted from income so that tax applies to a smaller amount. It is not a refund of what you spent: the saving equals the expense multiplied by your marginal rate. Employees may deduct very little, while a business or self-employed person can deduct reasonable costs incurred to earn income, though categories such as meals and entertainment, vehicles and home office are restricted. Keep receipts, because the CRA can ask for them years later.

Start from gross pensionable and insurable earnings for the pay period. Take off Canada Pension Plan contributions and Employment Insurance premiums at the prescribed rates up to the annual maximums, then apply the federal and provincial income tax tables to taxable pay after registered pension and other authorised deductions, using the claim code from the employee's TD1 forms; for an employee in Quebec you instead withhold Quebec Pension Plan contributions, the reduced Quebec EI rate and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan premiums, take federal tax under the CRA's Quebec tables and provincial tax under Revenu Québec's own tables against the provincial source-deduction form, and remit the Quebec portion to Revenu Québec. Add the employer share of CPP and EI, and remit the total by your remittance due date.

The tax-free savings account began in the 2009 calendar year, so an adult resident of Canada has been accumulating room every year since then, and unused room carries forward indefinitely. Cumulative room reached $102,000 at 1 January 2025 and $109,000 at 1 January 2026, with the annual limit $7,000 for both 2025 and 2026. Check My Account for your own number, since it also reflects past contributions and withdrawals.

No. A tax refund is not earnings, so it does not belong on your EI report, which covers work, wages, tips, commissions and other money earned in the period. EI works the other way at tax time: the benefits you received are taxable income, arrive on a T4E slip, and must be reported on your return for the year you got them.

A bursary is treated the same way as a scholarship. The payer reports it on a T4A, and the scholarship exemption then removes the amount from income for a student enrolled full time in a qualifying educational program. Part-time students can exempt an amount tied to tuition and program costs. Money that is really compensation for work is taxable and belongs in income, and support for training outside a qualifying program is taxable only beyond the small basic exemption that applies to awards which do not qualify.