Economical Corporate Minute Book Maintenance for Canadian Businesses

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 tax deduction is an amount subtracted from your income before tax is worked out, so it reduces the income being taxed rather than the tax bill directly. Its worth depends on your marginal rate: the higher the rate, the more the deduction saves. Common examples are RRSP contributions, child care costs, union dues, moving expenses and business expenses. Credits work the other way, reducing the tax calculated on that income.

For 2025 returns filed in 2026, most online returns are processed in about two weeks, and a non-resident return can take up to sixteen weeks. A paper return runs on a considerably longer standard because it is handled manually. Those timeframes assume a complete return that is not pulled for review. Register direct deposit and track progress in CRA My Account rather than waiting on a posted cheque.

Rarely on its own. Municipal tax follows the assessed value set by your province's assessment authority, not your renovation invoices. Work that adds living space, finished area or a permanent structure usually prompts a reassessment; replacing or paving a driveway generally moves market value very little. Building permits are how an assessor normally learns of changes. Your assessment notice explains how to ask for a review if the value looks wrong after work is done.

You can always file, and with no income it is usually worth doing. A nil or low-income return is how you claim the GST/HST credit and provincial credits, keep the Canada child benefit flowing, and carry unused tuition forward. Filing is required if the CRA asks you to, if you owe tax, or if you disposed of property or took money out of certain registered plans. One caveat: RRSP room only builds from earned income, so a year without work adds none.

Sometimes. Under the digital economy rules, a marketplace operator has to collect and remit GST/HST on sales it facilitates for vendors who are not registered themselves, including many non-resident vendors. If you are registered and selling your own goods held in Canada, you generally charge and remit the tax through your own return instead. Read the marketplace's tax reports so the same sale is not reported twice, and reconcile them to your filings.

Request it from Ontario's Ministry of Finance through their online tax compliance verification service. You sign in, identify the business, and the system checks your provincial tax accounts; if everything is filed and paid, the number is issued immediately. If an account is in arrears or a return is outstanding, the request is refused until you fix it, so file and pay first. Sole proprietors and corporations both use the same service.

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.

Personal rate and bracket changes almost always apply from 1 January of the tax year, so 2026 rates apply to income earned in 2026 and show up on the return you file in 2027. Federal 2026 brackets start at 14%. Corporate changes can land mid-year: Ontario's small business rate is 3.2% and falls to 2.2% effective 1 July 2026, and a fiscal year straddling that date is prorated between the two rates.

No credit exists simply for marrying. What changes is that you file as a couple. You may claim the spouse or common-law partner amount if your spouse has little income, transfer certain unused credits such as age, disability, and tuition amounts, pool medical expenses and donations on one return, and split eligible pension income. Marriage or common-law status also combines your incomes for income-tested payments, which can reduce the GST/HST credit and the child benefit.

Yes. Reporting self-employment income does not depend on holding a licence or registering a business. You file Form T2125 with your T1 under your own name and social insurance number, and CRA accepts it. A business number is needed only when you register for GST/HST, payroll or another CRA programme. Municipal licensing and provincial name registration are separate obligations that do not change your filing duty either way.

No. CPP retirement, disability and survivor benefits are pension income, not employment income. They are fully taxable and reported from the annual CPP benefit slip, but they build no RRSP contribution room and attract no further CPP contributions. The distinction matters because several amounts, including RRSP room, the Canada employment amount and childcare-related deductions, are tied to employment or earned income rather than pension income.