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At Tax Filings Canada, we handle every part of your estate freeze planning, from the filing itself to the planning around it. Our accountants work with corporations and business owners every week, so you can focus on running and growing your business.
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Yes — estate freeze planning can be handled entirely online. Tax Filings Canada covers T3 trust returns, estate freezes and the final T1 with its elections for trustees, executors and family enterprises at economical fixed fees, pay-after-service.
Everything starts with your documents — send what you have and we will sort it.
We build the estate freeze planning file carefully, matching your records line by line.
The draft comes back to you for a proper look, not a rushed signature.
When you say go, we file it and follow up with the confirmation.
| Factor | Tax Filings Canada | Typical Firm |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed, flat fee | Hourly / unpredictable |
| Payment | Pay after service | Upfront retainer |
| Price match | Yes, on written quotes | Rarely |
| CRA audit support | Included | Billed extra |
| Typical turnaround | 3-5 business days | 2-4 weeks |
Post-mortem and succession planning turns on timing: elections such as the spousal rollover and the capital gains exemption only work when claimed in the right return. The expanded trust-reporting rules require most trusts to file a T3 with full beneficial-ownership schedules even when no tax is payable. Because the fee is fixed and economical, the economics stay predictable whether your file is simple or messy.
If you handle Estate Freeze Planning once a year, everything looks equally important. Handle it weekly, as a tax expert does, and a clear hierarchy emerges; these notes follow that hierarchy.
Start with the rule that decides most files: The first fiscal year-end must fall within 53 weeks of incorporation and sets every filing deadline that follows. Share structure decided at incorporation governs who can receive dividends later. Year-one choices are cheap to make and expensive to undo. Restructuring share classes after value has accrued triggers its own tax consequences.
Just as important, though far less discussed: A transfer of eligible property to a taxable Canadian corporation for share consideration can be made on a tax-deferred basis under section 85. The deferral is available only where a joint election is filed on form T2057. The election is due by the earliest filing due date of any party to the transfer. After that it can be late-filed within a limited window on payment of a penalty. Later still, it can be filed only where the Minister accepts the election as just and equitable. The third rule is where the real exposure hides. The elected amount on a section 85 transfer cannot be less than the fair market value of any non-share consideration received. Cash or a note taken back on the transfer therefore produces an immediate gain to that extent. Where full deferral is the aim, the elected amount is set at the cost amount of the property. The non-share consideration is then kept within that amount.
The common thread in these rules is that they punish assumptions and reward verification. Engaging a tax expert for estate freeze planning is, at bottom, a way of replacing assumptions with checked answers. Before the first meeting, it helps to pull together the records that let a tax expert see your situation whole.
The last note is about how we work rather than the rules: every engagement comes with a fixed fee agreed up front, a review with you before filing, and payment after — not before — the service.
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6 years of filings at an owner separating surplus assets from the operating business in Toronto, Ontario had never claimed the incentives the work qualified for. The review recovered $103,000.
An owner separating surplus assets from the operating business in Toronto, Ontario had been filing for 6 years. In that time, the incentives its activity qualified for were never claimed. Behind that sat no final T2 filed for the predecessor corporations for the short year that ended at the amalgamation. We tested each activity against the eligibility criteria rather than the description on the invoice. Then we reviewed the paid-up capital of each class, the capital dividend account and the eligible dividend designations before the final distribution. We dissolved the corporation and requested the clearance certificate. $103,000 in credits claimed, with the open prior years adjusted as well. The claim passed review without adjustment.
A family transfer at an incorporating sole proprietor in Red Deer, Alberta would have been fully taxable. The reason was no valuation on file to support the price the parties had agreed. Restructuring deferred $325,000.
A generational transfer at an incorporating sole proprietor in Red Deer, Alberta had been discussed for years without a plan. No valuation on file to support the price the parties had agreed meant the transfer as contemplated would have been fully taxable. We moved the redundant investments out of the operating company into a holding company on a tax-deferred basis. That brought the asset mix back inside the qualified small business corporation tests. We sequenced the steps so each one was complete and documented before the next depended on it. $325,000 of tax was deferred through the transfer, and the successor generation took over a corporation whose records stood up to review.
Collections had begun against a shareholder exchanging common shares for preferred shares in Surrey, British Columbia over 6 years of unfiled returns. Bringing them current cut $33,000 from the balance.
By the time a shareholder exchanging common shares for preferred shares in Surrey, British Columbia called, 6 years were outstanding. The CRA had assessed on estimates. Underneath it sat an investment portfolio accumulating inside the operating company, putting the qualified small business corporation tests at risk. We reconstructed the records year by year. We computed safe income on hand share by share before any dividend was declared, and sized the dividend so subsection 55(2) had nothing to recharacterise. Each filing replaced an arbitrary assessment with a real one. The account is current. Filing on real numbers rather than CRA estimates reduced the balance by $33,000, and a relief application addressed part of the accumulated interest.
A discretionary family trust in Calgary, Alberta had outgrown its structure. The visible cost was a dividend paid up to the holding company with no safe income on hand computed behind it. The reorganisation completed tax-deferred and saves $37,000 a year.
A discretionary family trust in Calgary, Alberta had outgrown the structure it started with. A dividend paid up to the holding company with no safe income on hand computed behind it was the immediate problem. The longer-term one was that the structure blocked the next step. We mapped the current structure and modelled the target. Then we filed the section 85 election on form T2057 with the elected amounts set at the cost amounts of the transferred property. We kept the non-share consideration inside those amounts, so nothing was realised on the transfer. The tax-deferred elections were filed on time and the supporting valuations documented. The reorganisation completed without triggering tax, and the new structure saves approximately $37,000 a year while removing the exposure the old one carried.
A desk review assessed a jointly owned rental-property corporation in Victoria, British Columbia $98,000. The dispute was over a rollover completed in an earlier year with no section 85 election ever filed for it. Producing the records vacated the assessment.
A jointly owned rental-property corporation in Victoria, British Columbia was carrying $98,000 of penalties and interest. The charges arose from a rollover completed in an earlier year with no section 85 election ever filed for it. Much of that amount accumulated during a period the CRA itself had delayed. We confirmed that subsection 75(2) had never applied to the property. We then distributed the capital property of the trust to the resident capital beneficiaries on a subsection 107(2) rollover ahead of the twenty-one-year date. We framed the relief application on the specific grounds the CRA guidelines recognise rather than on general hardship. The assessment was vacated. $98,000 came off the account, and the documentation now on file makes the same position straightforward to defend next time.
A 5-week rebuild at a two-subsidiary holding company in Halifax, Nova Scotia got the filing in with 9 days to spare. That avoided $142,000 in penalties.
A two-subsidiary holding company in Halifax, Nova Scotia was weeks away from the deadline for estate freeze planning. Behind that sat a capital dividend account balance that would have been lost on dissolution had the final distribution gone ahead as planned. The exposure if the date slipped was around $142,000. We wound the subsidiary up into its parent under subsection 88(1) and moved the property across at its cost amounts. We closed the subsidiary program accounts once the final return had been assessed. The filing went in complete rather than provisional, so there was no amended return to follow. Filed with 9 days to spare. $142,000 in late-filing penalties avoided, and the working papers are ready for the following year.
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Direct answers to what Canadian business owners actually ask before hiring an accountant.
Estate Freeze Planning starts at a fixed fee quoted before any work begins. The quote is locked at the outset and does not change mid-engagement, and you pay only after you have reviewed and approved the deliverable. Compare every plan on our transparent pricing page.
At minimum: prior-year returns and notices of assessment, your bank and credit-card statements for the fiscal period, payroll records if you have employees, and GST/HST filings. We send a checklist tailored to your situation after the free 15-minute call.
Most engagements are completed within 3 to 5 business days once your documents are complete. Catch-up work covering multiple years takes longer, and we tell you the realistic timeline before you commit rather than after.
We respond on your behalf at no extra charge for any return we prepared. Every figure we file is supported by documentation retained in your file, which is what turns a CRA review from a crisis into correspondence. See how our CRA audit representation works.
Yes. Late filing penalties compound at 5% of the balance owing plus 1% per month, so the cost of waiting is real. We prioritise catch-up work and, where eligible, file under the CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program to reduce penalties.
Yes. We serve clients in every province and territory at the same fixed fees, so your location does not change the price or the service. Browse our coverage across Canada to find your city.
We work across construction, healthcare, e-commerce, professional services, restaurants, real estate, transportation, technology and non-profits, each with its own deduction profile and CRA scrutiny patterns. See all industries we serve.
Software applies the rules you already know about. An experienced tax accountant finds the ones you do not: capital cost allowance timing, the small business deduction threshold, shareholder loan repayment rules, and TOSI exposure on family dividends. The fee is usually smaller than the deductions it surfaces.
Our estate freeze planning services include complete filing, compliance management, and strategic advice customized to Canadian tax laws.
You can start by booking a free 15-minute call. We will review your files, provide a fixed quote, and start working immediately.
Our answer starts where the legislation starts. A divisive reorganisation relying on paragraph 55(3)(b) requires each transferee corporation to take its proportionate share of each prescribed type of property, measured by net fair market value. Simply taking an agreed share of the total is not enough. How a single asset is classified between those types can put the whole reorganisation offside. That is why the classification is settled before the transfers are drafted. From there it is a matter of applying it to your year — and that application, not the rule itself, is where a tax advisor earns the fee.
You are asking the right question, and it has a real answer. A qualifying amalgamation under section 87 ends the tax year of every predecessor corporation immediately before the amalgamation. A final T2 is therefore due for each predecessor for that short year. Loss balances of the predecessors continue into the amalgamated corporation under the continuity rules. However, the amalgamated corporation cannot carry a later loss back into a predecessor year. The one exception is the limited case the Act allows for a wholly-owned subsidiary. What we add on top of that is the paperwork discipline that makes the answer stand up if anyone ever asks you to prove it.
The questions Canadians actually search on this topic, answered plainly. Browse every question in the Canadian tax answers directory.
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.
A refund is the tax already paid minus the tax actually owed. Add the income tax withheld on your slips to any instalments you paid, work out tax payable on your total income after deductions and credits, and the difference comes back if the first figure is larger. Large refunds usually trace to over-withholding on employment income, RRSP contributions, or credits transferred to you. Run the numbers through the CRA's or a commercial estimator before you file.
Several NETFILE certified programs are free to use for straightforward returns, and the CRA publishes the certified list each filing season. If your income is modest and your return is simple, a free volunteer tax clinic can prepare and file it for you. Some people also receive a CRA invitation to file through a simplified phone or digital service. Free tools cover most employment and pension returns; self-employment, rental or foreign income usually needs more.
Sign in to My Account and open the sections for filed returns and notices, where past returns, notices of assessment, slips and carry-forward amounts can be viewed, printed or saved. Without online access, ask the CRA by phone or in writing at the tax centre shown on your notice, or ask whoever prepared the return for their copy. Keep your own records six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.
Gross income is everything you received; taxable income is what remains after allowed deductions, and only taxable income runs through the brackets. For an employee, gross pay less RRSP contributions, union dues, childcare and similar deductions gives taxable income; credits then reduce the tax calculated on it: the federal basic personal amount for 2026 is $16,452, claimed at the lowest federal rate of 14%, so it cuts federal tax by up to about $2,303 — the $16,452 is the credit base, not the saving. Two people with identical gross pay can end up with very different taxable income.
A Canadian business can face corporate income tax federally and provincially, GST/HST or provincial sales tax on what it sells, payroll withholding with employer CPP and EI, property tax on premises it owns, and payroll or health levies in some provinces. An unincorporated business reports its profit on a T2125 with the owner's T1 instead of paying corporate tax. Which ones apply depends on structure, where you operate, and whether you have employees.
The slip reporting employment insurance benefits is issued in February following the year you received them, ahead of the filing deadline. Look for it in your My Service Canada Account and in CRA My Account; a paper copy is mailed if you have not chosen electronic delivery. EI benefits are taxable, and the tax withheld at source is often less than the tax finally due, so expect a balance owing if you had other income that year.
Claim everything you are entitled to, and file on time so nothing is clawed back by penalties. Gather every slip, then look at RRSP contributions, childcare and moving costs, medical expenses, tuition, donations, employment or home office expenses and the disability amount. Couples should pool medical and donation claims on one return and split eligible pension income. Carry unused amounts forward instead of losing them, and adjust an earlier return if you missed something.
Unreported income costs far more than the tax alone. The CRA adds interest, and where you omit income in one year and also omitted income in any of the three preceding years, a repeated-failure penalty applies to the unreported amount. If the omission looks deliberate, a gross negligence penalty is much heavier, and evasion can be prosecuted. Fixing it yourself with a T1-ADJ or the Voluntary Disclosures Program is cheaper.
You can ask, but no employer has to issue it before the CRA's annual slip deadline shortly after year end, and payroll often cannot finalise the numbers until then. If you need figures sooner, use your last pay statement of the year for gross pay, income tax, CPP and EI to date. Slips also appear in CRA My Account once the employer files them. Filing from an estimate invites a reassessment later, so wait for the slip.
No. Public transit fares are exempt from GST and HST, so GO Train and GO Bus tickets, Presto loads, monthly passes and municipal transit fares carry no tax. The exemption covers scheduled local and commuter service, not charter buses, sightseeing tours or intercity coach and rail tickets, which are taxable. Taxi and airport shuttle trips are taxable as well. An employer-paid transit pass has its own treatment as a taxable benefit on a T4.
Taxable income is what remains after deductions. A personal return moves through stages: total income from all sources, then net income after deductions such as registered retirement savings plan contributions, child care costs and union dues, then taxable income after any further deductions. Tax is calculated on that taxable income using the federal and provincial brackets, and non-refundable credits are applied afterwards, which is why a credit and a deduction are not worth the same amount.
Reviewed and fact-checked by Udit Gupta
Ex Big 4 — Ernst & Young, Deloitte · International & cross-border tax specialist · CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program) · Chartered accountant, ICAI & MIA
Udit Gupta has over 15 years of experience helping corporations and business owners with corporate structuring, corporate tax filing, bookkeeping, payroll, GST/HST, cross-border tax and CRA representation. He is Big 4 trained, at Ernst & Young and Deloitte, and qualified as a chartered accountant in India and again in Malaysia. In 2014 he founded his accounting practice to serve entrepreneurs, startups and non-resident business owners across Canada. View full member bio.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India — member 521458 · Malaysian Institute of Accountants — member CA 44667 · Ex Big 4: Ernst & Young, Deloitte · CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), completed 19 Dec 2023 · In-Depth GST/HST Part I, 12 Jul 2022 · Part II, 5 Jul 2023
Editorial policy. Every page is researched against primary sources — the Income Tax Act, CRA publications and CPA Canada guidance — and every rate or threshold is stated with the tax year it applies to.
Sources. CRA — Trust income tax · Income Tax Act (Justice Laws Website)
