Economical Corporate Governance Support 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.

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.

By the last day of February following the calendar year the pay relates to. The same date applies to giving employees their copy and to filing the T4 information return with the CRA, and filing late brings a penalty that scales with the number of slips. Filed slips usually appear in CRA My Account within a few weeks. If yours has not arrived, ask your employer first, then fall back on My Account or your own pay records.

Withholding is only an estimate. Your employer taxes each pay period as if that pay rate continued for the whole year, using the 2026 federal rates of 14% to 33% plus your province's, and it knows only the credits you put on your TD1. It cannot see a second job, investment income, RRSP contributions or most other deductions and credits, so the return trues everything up: a refund if too much came off, a balance owing if too little.

Yes, in substance. The GST is a value-added tax: registrants charge 5% on taxable sales and recover the GST/HST paid on business inputs, so tax lands only on the value added at each stage. In participating provinces it is blended into the HST, at 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025, and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Quebec runs its own QST of 9.975% alongside the 5% GST.

GIS is tested on the income you report on your return, leaving out your OAS pension and the GIS itself. Employment and self-employment earnings count only above an annual earnings exemption, with a further partial exemption above that. CPP, workplace and foreign pensions, RRSP and RRIF withdrawals and investment income all count; TFSA withdrawals do not. Service Canada sets the exemption and income limits and updates them quarterly, so check its GIS eligibility page for current figures.

Tax legislation is the written law that imposes and administers tax: federally the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act, plus each province's own statutes and the municipal bylaws behind property tax. A change usually begins as a budget announcement, is drafted into a bill, passes Parliament and takes effect on royal assent. Regulations and CRA guidance sit beneath the statutes and explain administration without replacing them. Some proposals are administered before they pass, and a few never do.

Basic groceries are zero-rated, so no GST/HST is charged on bread, milk, vegetables, meat and similar staples. Restaurant meals, catering, most snack foods, candy, carbonated drinks and food sold heated or ready to eat are taxable at the provincial rate: 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025, or 5% GST where there is no HST. Some provinces rebate the provincial part on qualifying prepared food.

Sometimes. Taxpayer relief can cancel penalties and interest where the delay came from circumstances beyond your control, a serious illness or death in the family, a CRA error or processing delay, or an inability to pay. Inconvenience is not enough. You apply in writing on form RC4288, with dates, documents and a reason for each period claimed. There is a limit on how far back a request can reach, so apply early. The tax itself is never cancelled.

Balance owing is what you still have to pay after your return is assessed: tax for the year less the tax already withheld, instalments paid and refundable credits. A positive balance means money is due. A credit balance, usually shown with a minus sign, means you overpaid and a refund or transfer is coming. Your notice of assessment shows the balance as assessed, and My Account shows it updated for interest and payments received.

Start with complete expense claims: the business share of vehicle costs backed by a mileage log, home office space, supplies, subcontractors, insurance and professional fees. Business meals and entertainment are only partly deductible, and the restriction applies to the whole bill including tax and tip — record the full amount and apply the limit on the return. Register for GST/HST when the rules require it so input tax credits can be recovered on purchases. Then use RRSP room to level out a strong year, and look at incorporating once profits sit well above what you draw for living costs.