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The refund is normally released with the assessment itself, so a direct deposit follows soon after the notice appears in My Account, and a cheque takes longer because it travels by post. If nothing arrives, read the notice: the CRA may have applied the refund against an outstanding balance, family support arrears or another government debt, or held it while the return is reviewed or an earlier year remains unfiled. My Account shows the payment date once it is issued.

GST or HST is calculated on the selling price of a taxable supply and shown separately on the invoice. Place-of-supply rules decide which province's rate applies, and that is usually where the customer receives the goods or service rather than where you operate. A registrant remits the tax collected less input tax credits for GST or HST paid on business purchases, so the amount sent to the CRA with each return is the net figure, not everything collected.

A refund liability is the amount a business expects to pay back to customers for returns, rebates, price adjustments or unused credits, recognised when the sale is recorded rather than when the money goes out. Revenue is reported net of that estimate, and a separate asset is set up for goods expected to come back. Revisit the estimate each period end against actual return rates, and adjust the sales tax reported on refunded sales as well.

Yes. GST and HST are one federal tax, so a registrant claims tax paid anywhere in Canada on the same return, at whatever rate applied where the supply was made. An Alberta business billed 13% HST on an Ontario hotel stay recovers the full 13%, as long as the expense relates to commercial activity and the invoice shows the tax. Provincial retail taxes are different: British Columbia PST, Saskatchewan PST and Manitoba RST are costs, not credits.

Use your marginal rate for decisions about the next dollar: an RRSP contribution, a bonus, extra self-employed work, or realising a capital gain. It is the combined federal and provincial rate on income in your top bracket. Use your effective, or average, rate to understand your overall burden, which is total tax divided by total income. Federal brackets for 2026 start at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%.

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.

Most bank service charges are exempt financial services, so no GST/HST is added to them. Monthly account fees, overdraft interest, transfer fees and transaction charges normally carry no tax at all. Some items billed by a bank are taxable, such as safe deposit box rental or certain administrative and safekeeping services. Your statement itemises any tax charged, and only tax actually shown there can be claimed as an input tax credit on a GST/HST return.

There is no age or milestone at which refunds stop. A refund only means more tax was withheld or paid by instalments during the year than the return finally calculates, so it turns on your income mix each year. Retirees often stop seeing refunds because pension, RRIF and investment income tends to be under-withheld, which produces a balance owing instead. You can ask a payer to withhold more, or pay instalments, to change that.

Sign in to CRA My Account and open the statement of account. It shows any balance owing by tax year, the interest charged and the payments applied. Businesses see the same for GST/HST, payroll and corporate accounts in My Business Account. The notice of assessment for each year also states the amount. With no online access, phone the CRA or have an authorised representative check. Unfiled years can hide a balance, so confirm every year has been filed.

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse were self-employed, filing moves to 15 June 2026, but any balance is still due 30 April 2026. Online filing for 2025 opened 23 February 2026 and closes 29 January 2027. You can still file after the deadline, and you should, though interest and a late-filing penalty apply once you owe.

Workers' compensation benefits are not taxed. The provincial board issues a slip, you report the amount on your return, and an offsetting deduction takes it out of taxable income. It still counts in net income, so it can reduce income-tested credits and benefits. Wage-loss payments from a private disability plan your employer paid for are different and are employment income. An employer top-up of board payments is also taxable and appears on your T4.

Yes. Dividends and most other investment income are taxable in the year received, but interest is reported as it accrues each year, so a compound GIC or strip bond produces taxable interest annually even though nothing is paid out until maturity; the amounts usually appear on a T5 slip, and income below the slip-issuing threshold still has to be reported. A share's rise in value is taxed only when you sell, and only part of the resulting capital gain is included in income.