Budget-Friendly Multi-Company Consolidation Accounting for Canadian Businesses

Sign in to CRA My Account, or use the CRA's mobile app, where the return shows as received, in process or assessed, and the refund amount and payment date appear once it has been assessed. The CRA also runs an automated telephone service giving the same information. A representative you have authorised through Represent a Client can check it for you. If the status has not moved past the published processing time, the return is probably under review.

Canada runs three systems. The federal GST is 5% for 2026 and applies nationally. Five participating provinces fold a provincial share into one harmonised rate: 13% in Ontario, 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island, and 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025. Others add their own tax to the 5% GST, giving 12% in British Columbia and Manitoba, 11% in Saskatchewan and 14.975% in Quebec. Alberta and the territories charge 5% only.

Start with total income from every source for the year, including employment, self-employment, investments and pensions. Subtract the deductions you qualify for, such as RRSP contributions, child care costs, union dues and deductible employment expenses, to reach net income. Take off any further deductions that apply at the next stage, losses carried forward among them, and what remains is taxable income, the figure the brackets are applied to. Credits reduce the tax calculated on that figure rather than the income itself.

No. Capital is the owner's stake in the business, so it sits in equity, not liabilities. On a balance sheet, assets equal liabilities plus equity, and the capital account belongs on the equity side alongside retained earnings. Money the owner lends the business is different, because the business owes it back, and that is a liability. Keeping owner capital, owner loans and drawings in separate accounts prevents a messy reconciliation at year end.

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.

Income tax on a business is charged on net profit, meaning revenue less reasonable business expenses, not on gross sales. A sole proprietor reports that on the T2125 and a corporation on its T2. Other taxes do not work that way: GST/HST applies to your taxable sales whatever the profit, and payroll remittances follow wages paid. A business loss can usually be applied against other income or carried forward to a later year.

It is a projection, not a decision. CRA calculators and benefit notices show what the GST/HST credit would come to using the family net income and family situation entered or last assessed. The final figure is set when your return is assessed, and it changes if income, marital status or the number of children changes. Tell the CRA about changes promptly, because payments based on stale information create an overpayment you have to repay.

Start with the notice itself and match each line to your slips, to confirm the error is the CRA's and not a slip you missed. Straightforward corrections can be handled by phone or through change my return in My Account. If you disagree with the assessment itself, file a notice of objection by the deadline printed on the notice. Service problems, such as wrong information or long delays, go to the CRA's service feedback process instead.

Tax evasion is a criminal offence, prosecuted separately from an ordinary reassessment. On conviction a court can impose a fine set as a share of the tax evaded and, in serious cases, imprisonment, and the tax, interest and civil penalties remain owing on top. The CRA can also apply a gross negligence penalty for a false statement without any prosecution. Correcting a past return before the CRA contacts you can reduce or avoid penalties through the Voluntary Disclosures Program.

That figure is your payroll deduction rate, not a tax bracket. Canada's federal rates for 2026 start at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%, and what leaves your cheque blends federal and provincial tax with CPP at 5.95% and EI at $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings for 2026. Payroll also annualises each cheque, so a bonus or overtime period is taxed as if every period looked the same. Filing squares it up.

Start from accounting profit and adjust to taxable income: add back disallowed amounts, swap book depreciation for capital cost allowance, and apply loss carry-forwards. For the 2025 and 2026 tax years, apply 9% to active business income within a Canadian-controlled private corporation's $500,000 business limit, which shrinks where the associated group has passive investment income above $50,000 or taxable capital above $10 million, and 15% above that limit and to any corporation that is not a CCPC. Then add provincial tax where the corporation has a permanent establishment.

Retirement income is taxed at the same graduated federal and provincial rates as employment income, so the bill depends on how much you draw and from which sources. CPP, OAS, employer pension payments and RRSP or RRIF withdrawals are fully taxable, while TFSA withdrawals are not, and eligible dividends and capital gains in a non-registered account are taxed more lightly. Age and pension credits, plus pension income splitting between spouses, usually bring the total down.