Affordable Month-End Closing Services for Canadian Businesses

HST combines the 5% federal GST with a provincial component in five participating provinces. For 2026 the combined rates are 13% in Ontario, 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, and 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025. Elsewhere you charge the 5% GST alone, or GST plus a separate provincial tax. The rate follows the province of supply, not where your business sits.

Sign in to CRA My Account, go to the tax returns area and open the assessed return for the year you need. The T1 General is the return itself, so the copy you download there is what lenders, landlords and immigration officers usually ask for, normally alongside the notice of assessment. If the year is too old to appear online, request a copy by phone or in writing and expect it by mail.

A Canadian business can face corporate income tax federally and provincially, GST/HST or provincial sales tax on what it sells, payroll withholding with employer CPP and EI, property tax on premises it owns, and payroll or health levies in some provinces. An unincorporated business reports its profit on a T2125 with the owner's T1 instead of paying corporate tax. Which ones apply depends on structure, where you operate, and whether you have employees.

Tax preparation fees are deductible when they relate to earning income. A self-employed person or a partner deducts the accounting fee on the business statement, Form T2125, and a rental owner deducts it on the rental statement, Form T776. A salaried employee with a straightforward T1 generally cannot claim it. Fees paid to prepare an objection or an appeal of an assessment are also deductible, and fees for investment advice may qualify as carrying charges.

There is no federal renter's credit. Some provinces offer one: Ontario includes rent in its energy and property tax credit, Manitoba has a renters tax credit, and Quebec's solidarity credit factors in your housing. You claim it on the provincial schedule filed with your T1 for the year, reporting rent paid and your landlord's details, so you must file even with low income. Keep receipts or a lease. Check your province's page for eligibility.

Yes. CRA My Account holds your notices of assessment and reassessment, lets you view returns for a number of prior years, and lists the slips the CRA received, such as T4, T4A and T5. Keep in mind these are the CRA's records of what was assessed, not the file your software produced, so figures can differ if the return was adjusted. Records supporting a return should be kept six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.

Once the CRA finishes assessing an electronically filed return, a direct-deposit refund normally follows within a few days, and the whole cycle from filing to deposit is about two weeks. A non-resident return can take up to 16 weeks. Delays come from reviews of your slips, requests for documents, or the refund being applied against a balance you owe, including other government debts. Direct deposit is faster than waiting for a cheque.

Give your accountant your business number so they can request access through CRA's Represent a Client service, then approve that request in My Business Account, which is the quickest route. A signed AUT-01 sent to the CRA is the route when online approval is not possible, but note what it gives: offline access only, so your accountant can deal with the CRA by phone and mail while online access to the account still has to be granted through Represent a Client and confirmed by you. Repeated failed sign-in attempts can lock the account until CRA verifies your identity by phone. A first-time filer with no assessed return can still register, using CRA's document verification option instead of an amount from a past return.

Some are. Unused tuition, disability, age and pension income amounts can be transferred to a spouse, parent or grandparent within limits, and tuition not transferred carries forward for the student indefinitely. Most other non-refundable credits only reduce tax to zero and are then lost, because they cannot be refunded. Donations and student loan interest carry forward for a limited number of later years, and CRA's page for each credit states its transfer and carry-forward rules. Refundable credits are paid even with no tax payable.

Receiving repayment of money you lent is not income, because the principal was never deducted and getting it back creates no gain. Only the interest portion is taxable to the lender, reported as investment income. Borrowing is not income either, and repaying principal is not deductible, although interest can be when the borrowed money earns business or investment income. Debt that is forgiven rather than repaid follows separate rules and can create an income inclusion.

Taxable income is what remains after deductions. A personal return moves through stages: total income from all sources, then net income after deductions such as registered retirement savings plan contributions, child care costs and union dues, then taxable income after any further deductions. Tax is calculated on that taxable income using the federal and provincial brackets, and non-refundable credits are applied afterwards, which is why a credit and a deduction are not worth the same amount.

The credit once called equivalent to spouse is now the amount for an eligible dependant. You may claim it where you were single, separated, divorced or widowed at some point in the year, had no supporting spouse or common-law partner, and maintained a home in which a dependent relative lived with you, usually a child, parent or grandparent. Only one person may claim a given dependant, and only one such claim is allowed per household for the year.