Low-Cost Multi-Currency Accounting for Canadian Businesses

Rent on your home is not deductible on a Canadian return. Two situations change that. Self-employed people, and employees who meet the work-space-in-the-home conditions, may claim the share of rent tied to the area used for work. Several provinces also run a property tax or rent based credit, applied for on the provincial schedule filed with your T1, where rent paid affects the amount. Keep receipts and your landlord's details either way.

CRA online filing for 2025 returns opened 23 February 2026 and closes 29 January 2027. Most people file between late February and the 30 April 2026 deadline, and that stretch is what tax season refers to. You can gather documents and prepare a return earlier, but it cannot be sent electronically before the system opens. Employment and investment slips such as T4 and T5 are issued by payers early in the year, and the CRA's Auto-fill service can pull the ones it already holds once you have set up My Account.

A taxpayer is any person or entity with tax obligations to the CRA: an individual, a corporation, a trust or an estate. For individuals the test is residency rather than citizenship, so a Canadian resident reports worldwide income while a non-resident reports Canadian-source income only. You can be a taxpayer with a filing obligation in a year you owe nothing, and filing is what secures credits and benefits, so the label is not limited to people who pay.

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.

Sometimes. A medical expense claim for massage therapy only works if the therapist is authorised to practise under the law of the province where the service was given, and massage therapy is regulated in some provinces and not others. Where it does not qualify, the receipt cannot be claimed even with a doctor's referral. Check the CRA's list of authorised medical practitioners by province before claiming, and keep receipts showing the practitioner and date.

Yes. Tattooing is a taxable service, so GST/HST applies at the rate where the studio operates: 5% GST alone in Alberta, 13% HST in Ontario, and 14.975% combined in Quebec, where QST applies to services broadly. The provinces with a separate PST tax only listed services, so check the provincial bulletin. An artist under the $30,000 small-supplier threshold need not register or charge tax at all.

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.

No. Municipal property tax is charged as long as you own the property, whether or not there is a mortgage and regardless of your age. What exists instead is relief: most provinces and many municipalities offer deferral programs for seniors, people with disabilities or low-income owners, where the tax is postponed and secured against the property until it is sold. Apply through the city or the provincial program each year.

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.

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.

Periodic spousal support paid under a written separation agreement or a court order is taxable to the person who receives it and deductible to the person who pays it. Child support under most current orders is neither taxable nor deductible, and lump-sum settlements generally attract no deduction. Both former spouses should report matching figures and keep the order on file, because mismatched claims are a common review trigger.

No. A credit balance means the account sits in your favour, because payments or credits exceed the tax assessed, and that amount is either refundable or can be left to cover a future assessment. The amount you have to pay is the balance owing, shown as a debit. Check the statement of account in CRA My Account or My Business Account, since a credit in one program can sit alongside a debt in another.