Budget-Friendly Finance Process Improvement for Canadian Businesses

File a T1 return for the year, sending it electronically with CRA-certified software or mailing a paper return. Gather your slips and receipts first and check them against the ones listed in My Account. For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline was 30 April 2026, or 15 June 2026 to file if you or your spouse were self-employed, with payment still due 30 April 2026. CRA online filing for 2025 returns closes 29 January 2027.

Most people pay through online or telephone banking, adding the CRA as a payee and choosing the exact account and year, such as a personal balance owing or an instalment. The alternatives are CRA My Payment with a debit card, pre-authorised debit scheduled in My Account, a credit card or e-transfer through a third-party provider that charges its own fee, or paying at your bank with a remittance voucher. For the 2025 tax year the balance was due 30 April 2026.

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.

Work out the tax you actually owe for the year, then compare it with what has already been paid. Total your income, subtract deductions to reach taxable income, apply the federal and provincial brackets, take off your credits, and set the result against the tax withheld on your T4 and other slips plus any instalments. If more was withheld than you owe, the difference is your refund. Tax software approved for NETFILE runs the same arithmetic once your slips are entered.

Medical costs give a non-refundable credit rather than a deduction. Eligible items include prescription drugs, dental work, eyeglasses and contact lenses, fees paid to medical practitioners authorised to practise, private health plan premiums, attendant care and travel for treatment unavailable locally. Over-the-counter products and most cosmetic procedures do not qualify. Only the portion above an income-based threshold counts, the claim period may end at any point in the tax year rather than following the calendar year, and pooling the family claim on one spouse usually helps.

Provincial and territorial tax is worked out separately on the same taxable income and then added to your federal tax; the two sets of brackets never merge. So for 2026 an Ontario resident pays the federal rate for their band plus Ontario's rate for its band, and the two added together give the combined marginal rate. Take the current top combined figure from the CRA's Ontario tax page rather than quoting it from memory. Quebec residents file a separate provincial return; everyone else files one return covering both.

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.

Work it from your own figures rather than a rule of thumb. A corporation on active business income pays 9% federally on the first $500,000 for 2026, plus the provincial small business rate — 3.2% in Ontario, falling to 2.2% on 1 July 2026 — so reserve that share of profit as you earn it. A sole proprietor should set aside at their marginal personal rate plus CPP. Keep GST/HST collected in a separate account; that money was never yours.

No. Money you borrow is not income, so a student loan does not go on your return and changes nothing about your tax bill when you receive it or when you repay it. Grants, bursaries and scholarships are different: those arrive on a tax slip and may need to be reported, although full-time students often find the scholarship exemption covers them. The only tax benefit tied to the loan itself is the credit for interest paid on a government student loan.

Daycare and preschool fees are deductible as child care expenses when the care allows a parent to work, run a business or study. The deduction normally goes to the lower-income spouse and is limited by the child's age and by a share of that spouse's earned income. Preschool counts as child care rather than education, so it qualifies; kindergarten inside a school system does not. Ask for receipts showing the provider's name, and their SIN for an individual carer.

Your municipality sets that, not the CRA. Most Canadian municipalities issue an interim bill and a final bill each year, each payable in one or more instalments, and many also offer a monthly pre-authorised plan spread across the year. If your mortgage lender pays the tax on your behalf, you contribute a portion with each mortgage payment instead. Your tax bill or your municipality's website lists the exact instalment dates for your property.

Yes. Most Canadian municipalities, Toronto included, accept payment through your bank's online bill payment service: add the city as a payee and use the roll or account number printed on your tax bill. Cities also run their own payment portal, pre-authorised instalment plans, and credit card payment through a third party that charges a service fee. Allow several business days for a bank payment to reach the city, since the municipality charges interest on a late instalment.