Pocket-Friendly Hubdoc Setup and Support for Canadian Businesses

You can pay through CRA My Business Account or My Payment, through your own financial institution's online banking by adding the CRA GST/HST payment as a payee under your business number, or by pre-authorised debit arranged in My Business Account. Third-party providers accept credit cards for a fee. Payment is due by the deadline for your reporting period, and filing the return does not by itself move the money, so schedule the two separately.

Make it routine rather than an April scramble. Record income and expenses monthly, keep receipts and statements for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to, and check CRA My Account for slips, notices, balances and instalment reminders. Pay instalments when the CRA asks for them. Set aside a share of self-employment income as it arrives, and register for direct deposit. A mid-year review is when planning can still change the result.

A refund liability is the amount a business expects to pay back to customers for returns, rebates, price adjustments or unused credits, recognised when the sale is recorded rather than when the money goes out. Revenue is reported net of that estimate, and a separate asset is set up for goods expected to come back. Revisit the estimate each period end against actual return rates, and adjust the sales tax reported on refunded sales as well.

No. Revenue is income you have earned and belongs on the income statement, not among liabilities. Money taken before you deliver the goods or service is different: unearned or deferred revenue is a liability until you perform the work. Sales tax you collect is also a liability rather than revenue. Booking customer deposits straight to sales is a common error that overstates profit and distorts the figures on your GST/HST return.

Usually yes. Severance, retiring allowances, bonuses, back pay, commuted pensions and RRSP withdrawals are taxable in the year received, and the payer withholds at a flat lump-sum rate that may be higher or lower than your real marginal rate, so a refund or balance can appear at filing. A qualifying retroactive lump sum covering earlier years can be spread back over them on request. Amounts transferred directly to an RRSP defer the tax.

Largely by self-assessment. Employers withhold income tax, CPP and EI from each pay and send it to the CRA; people with other income pay quarterly instalments; then everyone files a return that reconciles the year into a refund or a balance owing. Businesses collect GST/HST from customers and remit it on their own schedule. The CRA administers federal tax and most provincial income tax, while Quebec collects its own through Revenu Quebec.

A transmitter number identifies whoever sends information returns, such as T4 or T5 slips, to the CRA electronically. Many filers never need one, because internet file transfer accepts a web access code tied to the business number on the return. If you transmit for several businesses or use software that demands the identifier, request it through the CRA's electronic services helpdesk. Start from the CRA's pages on filing information returns electronically, which set out what each return type requires.

Not for owing money. A balance is collected civilly through interest, garnishment, liens and set-off against benefits. Imprisonment is only possible for criminal offences such as tax evasion or making false statements, and that takes an investigation, a prosecution and a conviction in court. Filing late or making mistakes is not evasion. Correcting the record yourself, by amending returns or using the voluntary disclosures route, is treated far better than waiting to be found.

No GST/HST applies. Menstrual products, including pads, tampons, cups and liners, are zero-rated, so neither the federal GST of 5% for 2025 and 2026 nor the provincial part of the HST is charged on them. The provincial sales tax provinces generally exempt them as well, though each keeps its own exemption list. If a receipt shows tax on these items, ask the retailer to correct it and check the CRA's zero-rated guidance.

Owing tax does not disqualify you, though it can complicate approval. Lenders ask for filed returns and notices of assessment, and a self-employed applicant is usually assessed on the income reported there. An unpaid balance shows on the notice, and where the CRA has registered a lien against the property the lender will want it cleared first. Filed returns, a documented payment arrangement and a record of keeping to it all help. Requirements vary by lender.

Yes. The CRA runs a leads programme for reporting suspected tax cheating, and you can submit online, by phone or by mail, anonymously if you prefer. Give facts, names, dates and amounts where you have them, because the CRA cannot come back with questions if you stay anonymous. It will never tell you the outcome, since confidentiality rules cover the other taxpayer. A separate offshore informant programme can pay an award on large international cases.

Either of you can claim it, or you can split it between you, but the total claimed for one qualifying home cannot exceed the maximum allowed for that home, so there is no doubling up. It is usually simplest for the spouse with enough tax payable to claim the whole amount. You also must not have lived in a home you or your spouse owned during a defined look-back period; the window and the current amount are on CRA's home buyers' amount page.