Pocket-Friendly Clean Economy Investment Tax Credits for Canadian Businesses

HST combines the 5% federal GST with a provincial component in five participating provinces. For 2026 the combined rates are 13% in Ontario, 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, and 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025. Elsewhere you charge the 5% GST alone, or GST plus a separate provincial tax. The rate follows the province of supply, not where your business sits.

Canadian income tax is built up in layers. You total your income for the year, subtract the deductions you qualify for to arrive at taxable income, then apply the federal brackets and your province's brackets to that figure. Each bracket rate applies only to the income sitting inside it, so earning more never retaxes the dollars below. Non-refundable credits, starting with the basic personal amount, come off the tax afterwards. Look up the CRA bracket table for the tax year you are filing.

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse carried on a business, the return itself is due 15 June 2026, but any balance owing is still due 30 April 2026. Interest runs on unpaid amounts after the payment deadline, and a late-filed return with a balance owing also attracts a late-filing penalty. Filing on time keeps benefit and credit payments flowing.

Online banking is the simplest route: add the CRA as a payee, select the account and tax year precisely, and pay from your chequing account. CRA My Payment takes debit card payments, and pre-authorised debit can be scheduled in My Account or My Business Account for a single amount or a run of instalments. Corporations and GST/HST registrants use the same channels under their business number. Keep the confirmation number and allow several days for the payment to post.

Net tax owing is your total tax payable for the year minus tax already withheld at source and certain credits, so it is roughly the balance left to pay when the return is filed. The CRA uses it to decide whether you must pay quarterly instalments, comparing the current year against the two before it. Cross the limit and instalment reminders follow. The current threshold and the calculation are set out on the CRA's instalment payments page.

Tax incentives are deliberate reductions in tax meant to encourage an activity. Canadian examples include the scientific research and experimental development credit for eligible work, accelerated write-offs for certain equipment, clean-economy investment credits, the small business deduction for a Canadian-controlled private corporation, and registered plans such as an RRSP, TFSA or FHSA on the personal side. Each has its own eligibility test and filing deadline, so claim it in the year the rules allow.

Payments to a babysitter, nanny, daycare or day camp usually qualify as child care expenses when the care allowed you to work, run a business or attend school. The claim normally goes to the lower-income spouse, is capped by that spouse's earned income and by per-child ceilings that vary with the child's age, and needs receipts showing the caregiver's name, address and social insurance number. Overnight camps and boarding schools follow separate weekly limits.

Child care costs are a deduction, not a credit, so there is no fixed percentage refunded. The eligible amount comes off your income, and the saving equals your marginal tax rate on what you deduct, which is why it is worth more to a higher earner. Annual limits apply per child and are smaller for older children, and the claim generally has to go on the lower-income spouse's return. Keep receipts showing the provider's name and number.

Only when your tax for the year works out to less than the amount withheld. A refund is simply the difference between the income tax taken off your pay or pension and the tax your return actually calculates, so everything withheld comes back if credits such as the basic personal amount and tuition cancel your tax entirely. That is common for students and for anyone who worked only part of the year. CPP and EI deductions are not returned this way.

The additional property transfer tax is 20% of the foreign buyer's share of a residential property's fair market value, the rate since 21 February 2018. It applies on top of the general property transfer tax in five specified areas: the Metro Vancouver, Capital, Fraser Valley, Nanaimo and Central Okanagan regional districts. It catches foreign nationals, foreign corporations and taxable trustees. Tsawwassen First Nation treaty lands are excluded.

None of it is automatically tax free. The tax-free lump sum many people have read about belongs to the United Kingdom system and has no Canadian equivalent. What Canada offers is deferral: a direct transfer of an eligible amount into an RRSP or RRIF postpones the tax until you withdraw, and part of a retiring allowance may qualify for transfer based on qualifying earlier years of service. Anything paid to you in cash is taxable income that year.

Yes, when the trip is for business. Accommodation on a business trip is fully deductible, unlike business meals and entertainment, where the Act allows only a portion of what you spend, and it holds whether you are self-employed or a corporation reimbursing an employee. Keep the folio, note the business purpose and who you met, and separate out any personal days you added. A hotel near your ordinary workplace, or an event you attend for personal interest, does not qualify.