Pocket-Friendly Month-End Bookkeeping for Canadian Businesses

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse were self-employed, the filing deadline moves to 15 June 2026, but any balance owing is still due 30 April 2026. Interest starts the day after the payment deadline, and a late-filing penalty applies on top when a return with a balance owing is filed late. File on time even with nothing owing, because income-tested benefits are recalculated from the filed return.

A tax deduction is an amount subtracted from your income before tax is worked out, so it reduces the income being taxed rather than the tax bill directly. Its worth depends on your marginal rate: the higher the rate, the more the deduction saves. Common examples are RRSP contributions, child care costs, union dues, moving expenses and business expenses. Credits work the other way, reducing the tax calculated on that income.

A write-off is simply a deductible expense. You subtract it from the income it helped earn, so the saving equals the expense multiplied by your marginal tax rate, not the full amount spent. To qualify, the cost must be incurred to earn business or employment income, be reasonable in amount, and be backed by a receipt. Purely personal costs never qualify, and mixed-use items such as a vehicle or a home office are split by business-use proportion.

Withholding is only an estimate. Your employer taxes each pay period as if that pay rate continued for the whole year, using the 2026 federal rates of 14% to 33% plus your province's, and it knows only the credits you put on your TD1. It cannot see a second job, investment income, RRSP contributions or most other deductions and credits, so the return trues everything up: a refund if too much came off, a balance owing if too little.

Yes. A mortgage is a liability on the balance sheet, carried at the outstanding principal and normally split between the portion due within twelve months and the long-term remainder. The property sits on the other side as an asset. Only interest is an expense; principal repayments reduce the liability and never reach the income statement. For a rental or business property, that same interest-versus-principal split is what determines the deductible amount on the tax return.

No. The federal adoption expense credit is non-refundable, so it reduces tax you owe and cannot by itself create a refund. If your tax payable is already nil, the credit produces nothing. Eligible expenses are claimed in the tax year the adoption is finalised, and two adoptive parents can split one claim up to the annual maximum. Some provinces offer a separate credit of their own. The CRA's adoption expenses page lists what qualifies and the current limit.

Land transfer tax is a closing cost, paid to the province, and to the city as well in Toronto, when the deed changes hands. It is not deductible against income, even on a rental. Instead it is added to the property's adjusted cost base, which lowers the capital gain when you sell. Keep the statement of adjustments from your lawyer, because that cost base matters years later. First-time buyer rebates reduce the amount you actually pay.

Start from gross pensionable and insurable earnings for the pay period. Take off Canada Pension Plan contributions and Employment Insurance premiums at the prescribed rates up to the annual maximums, then apply the federal and provincial income tax tables to taxable pay after registered pension and other authorised deductions, using the claim code from the employee's TD1 forms; for an employee in Quebec you instead withhold Quebec Pension Plan contributions, the reduced Quebec EI rate and Quebec Parental Insurance Plan premiums, take federal tax under the CRA's Quebec tables and provincial tax under Revenu Québec's own tables against the provincial source-deduction form, and remit the Quebec portion to Revenu Québec. Add the employer share of CPP and EI, and remit the total by your remittance due date.

There is no set amount; you pay a share of your taxable income under graduated rates. For 2026 the federal rates start at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%, and each bracket applies only to the income inside it. Your province adds its own brackets. Credits such as the federal basic personal amount of $16,452 for 2026 reduce the result, so total tax depends on your income and deductions.

Scholarships, fellowships and bursaries are income, but a scholarship exemption usually removes the tax. A student enrolled full time in a qualifying educational program can generally exempt the whole amount received for that program, so nothing is added to taxable income. Part-time students get a narrower exemption tied to tuition and program costs. Amounts that are really payment for work, such as a stipend for research services, do not qualify and stay taxable.

For account-specific questions the CRA's individual and business enquiry lines can see your file, and CRA My Account answers most balance, slip and benefit questions without a call. General rules are set out on canada.ca. For anything with money attached to the choice, such as incorporating, a rental, leaving Canada or an audit letter, talk to a tax preparer. We offer a free 15-minute consultation on +1 (416) 619-0068.

The eligible dependant amount, once known as equivalent to spouse, is for a person who had no spouse or common-law partner during the year, or who was separated, and who supported a related dependant living with them in a home they maintained. The dependant is usually a minor child, or a parent or other relative who is dependent because of an impairment. One claim per dwelling and one claim per dependant, and it cannot be combined with the spousal amount.