Pocket-Friendly Fund Accounting for Canadian Non-Profits and Charities

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.

Yes. Most people file electronically through NETFILE using CRA-certified software, which submits the return directly and confirms receipt immediately. Filing online is also what makes a fast refund possible: for 2025 returns filed in 2026 the CRA service standard is about two weeks online, against a considerably longer standard for a paper return, and registering direct deposit removes the cheque step. CRA online filing for 2025 returns opened 23 February 2026 and closes 29 January 2027.

Sign in to CRA My Account and open the tax returns section, which lists your assessed returns, notices of assessment and reassessment, and carry-forward amounts for earlier years. You can also download a proof of income statement, request a copy by phone, or ask whoever prepared the return for you. Keep your own copy and the supporting records for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to.

Payroll treats each cheque as though you earned that amount every period, so a bonus, overtime, retroactive raise or an extra shift makes the cheque look like a higher annual income and more tax comes off it. A change in pay frequency, a new TD1, or a taxable benefit added mid-year does the same. CPP and EI stop for the year once their maximums are reached, so take-home often rises later on. Your return reconciles the total.

It should not. A T4A reports fees for services before sales tax, so the box amount is meant to exclude GST/HST. Some payers get this wrong and include the tax, which overstates the income the CRA sees against your name. Compare the slip with your own invoices and ask the payer for an amended slip if it is inflated. Report revenue net of GST/HST on your T2125 and account for the tax collected on your GST/HST return.

Payments for hosting a student are taxable where they exceed what you spend on that student's room, meals and utilities and the arrangement is run for profit. Where the fee only covers your costs, the CRA generally treats it as cost recovery with nothing to report and nothing to deduct. Keep a record of the fee and of what you spent, because the answer turns on those figures rather than on the label homestay.

Not automatically. Relief applies where goods are bought on a reserve, or bought off reserve and delivered to the reserve, by a status Indian, a band or a band-empowered entity, and to services performed on a reserve. Purchases used off reserve with no delivery to it normally carry GST/HST at the usual rate. The vendor has to record the buyer's status information to support the relief. The CRA's guidance for Indigenous peoples sets out the conditions and paperwork.

The return works it out. Total income less deductions gives taxable income, tax is figured at the federal and provincial rates that apply to you, then credits and the tax already withheld or paid by instalment are subtracted. What remains is your balance owing or refund. An employee can see tax withheld on the T4; your notice of assessment confirms the final figure. Filing is the only way to know it precisely.

Register for CRA My Account. It shows your notices of assessment, balance owing, instalment reminders, RRSP and TFSA room, benefit payments, the slips the CRA has received, and the status of a filed return. Sign in with a Sign-In Partner or a CRA user ID; identity is confirmed by a code sent to you or by the document verification option. You can also authorise a representative on an AUT-01 to view it for you.

Workers' compensation benefits are not taxed. The provincial board issues a slip, you report the amount on your return, and an offsetting deduction takes it out of taxable income. It still counts in net income, so it can reduce income-tested credits and benefits. Wage-loss payments from a private disability plan your employer paid for are different and are employment income. An employer top-up of board payments is also taxable and appears on your T4.

You can file your own return without waiting for your spouse to file theirs, but you must still report their name, social insurance number and net income for the year, because income-tested credits and benefits are worked out on combined income. You may also prepare and send your spouse's return for them, provided they authorise it and review it first. Where their income is not final, use a careful estimate and correct it afterwards with a T1-ADJ.

Not by default. Property tax is governed by provincial legislation and municipal bylaws rather than by the CRA, so any exemption depends on where the property sits and how it is used. Places of worship, certain charitable and educational uses and some seniors housing commonly qualify, and many municipalities offer partial rebates to registered charities that lease space. Exemption is rarely automatic: you usually have to apply, and reapply, with evidence of use and status.