Economical Farming Tax Returns for Canadian Businesses

For personal income tax, your account number is your social insurance number. For a business it is the nine-digit business number plus the two-letter program identifier and four-digit reference, so corporation tax, GST/HST and payroll each have their own account. Select the matching payment type and the correct tax year or period as well: a payment posted to the wrong program or year leaves the balance you meant to clear still outstanding and still accruing interest.

For personal tax the identifier is your social insurance number, which appears on your notice of assessment, on T4 slips and in your CRA My Account profile. A business uses its business number followed by the program identifier and reference code for the account in question, shown on CRA business letters, statements of account and remittance vouchers, and in My Business Account. The CRA issues no separate account number beyond these, so quote whichever applies.

Ottawa collects personal income tax, corporate income tax and GST/HST, which together make up most federal revenue, plus excise duties and taxes on fuel, alcohol, tobacco and cannabis, customs duties on imports, and a share of other levies. CPP and EI contributions are also collected federally but fund those programs directly. The CRA administers most of these; Quebec administers its own provincial income tax and the QST. Revenue totals are published in the Public Accounts of Canada.

Yes. Pay for casual, part-time or one-off work is taxable to the worker, however small the amount and whether or not a slip was issued. If the person is your employee, you generally withhold and remit source deductions and report the pay on a T4. If they are genuinely self-employed, they invoice you and report the income on a T2125. Worker status turns on control and independence, not on the word “casual”.

Yes. A missing slip does not excuse a late return, so file using your own records, such as pay stubs, bank deposits and your final pay statement, and report the income as accurately as you can. Most slips are visible in CRA My Account, and the auto-fill feature in certified software pulls them into the return. If a slip arrives later and the figures differ, correct it with a T1-ADJ rather than filing again.

Set aside enough to cover income tax at your combined federal and provincial marginal rate on net business income, plus CPP: for 2026 you pay both halves yourself, 5.95% each on earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and the maximum pensionable earnings of $74,600, and a further 4% each on earnings in the second band from $74,600 to $85,000. Keep any GST/HST you collect in a separate account, because it was never your money. Moving a fixed percentage of every deposit aside, then truing it up each quarter, works well.

You must register for GST/HST and charge it once you stop qualifying as a small supplier. For 2026 the small-supplier threshold is $30,000 of taxable revenue, measured over four consecutive calendar quarters or in a single quarter. Under the four-quarter test you stay a small supplier until the end of the month following the quarter in which the trailing four-quarter total was exceeded; you must then apply to register before the day that is 30 days after the first taxable supply you make once that grace month ends, and registration takes effect on that day. Under the single-quarter test small-supplier status ends immediately on the sale that crosses $30,000, and that sale itself must carry tax. Below the threshold you may register voluntarily to recover input tax credits on your purchases.

Your T4 reports more than base pay. Overtime, bonuses, commissions, vacation pay, tips your employer processed and taxable benefits are all folded in, including employer-paid life insurance, a company vehicle available for personal use, most allowances, and gifts beyond what the CRA treats as non-taxable. Some benefits are also itemised separately on the slip while still sitting inside the total. Payroll RRSP contributions cut the tax withheld, not the income reported.

Basic groceries are zero-rated, so no GST/HST applies to staple items including most condiments such as ketchup, mustard, sauces and cooking oils bought at a grocery store. Tax does apply to snack foods, confectionery, carbonated drinks, prepared or restaurant meals, and small single servings. The line is drawn by the product and its package, not the store, so the CRA's basic groceries guidance is the place to check a borderline item.

Property tax on a second home or cottage you use personally is not deductible, and the same applies to vacant land held for personal use, though carrying costs on land can sometimes be added to its cost instead. If the property earns rent, property tax, mortgage interest, insurance and repairs are deductible against that rental income for the period it is rented. Land transfer tax is never deductible, cannot be rolled into your mortgage, and can still apply on gifted property.

Premiums you pay for private health, dental or extended medical coverage count as an eligible medical expense on your T1, which gives a credit rather than a deduction. The employee share deducted from your pay qualifies; the employer's share does not. A self-employed person without an employee plan may instead be able to deduct private health services plan premiums against business income, subject to conditions on who else is covered.

Premiums on a personal life insurance policy are not deductible, even when you are self-employed and the policy exists to protect the business. CRA treats the cost as personal. The narrow exception is a policy a lender requires as collateral for a business loan, where part of the premium may be deductible while that loan is outstanding. Health, dental and disability coverage follow separate rules and can sometimes be claimed, so review them apart.