Low-Cost Partnership GST/HST Filing for Canadian Partnerships

Sales tax in British Columbia totals 12% for 2026: the 5% federal GST plus 7% provincial sales tax. Both are calculated on the pre-tax price, so they do not compound. PST has a wider list of exemptions than GST, so many receipts show only 5%, while a few items go the other way and carry a PST rate above the general 7%, liquor and passenger vehicles among them, so check the BC rate that applies to the item. Income tax is separate.

Multiply the price by the tax rate written as a decimal, then add that result to the price. The quicker version is to multiply the price by one plus the rate in decimal form, which produces the total in a single step. Use the combined rate for the province where the sale takes place, because the place of supply is what sets the rate. Look the current rate up first, since the provincial portion is not the same across the country.

GST is the federal 5% tax charged across Canada, unchanged for 2026. PST is a provincial tax added on top of it: 7% in British Columbia for 12% combined, 6% in Saskatchewan for 11% combined, and Manitoba's 7% retail sales tax for 12% combined. You register and remit with the province, and provincial tax on business inputs is usually a cost rather than a credit. Quebec's 9.975% QST is recoverable by registrants. Alberta and the territories charge the 5% GST only.

Divide the total by one plus the tax rate expressed as a decimal. That gives the amount before tax, and subtracting it from the total leaves the tax portion. Going the other direction, multiply the pre-tax amount by the rate to get the tax and add the two together. Use the combined rate for the province of supply, and avoid rounding at each step so the tax you report matches the figures on your invoices.

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.

No. Money you borrow is not income, so a student loan does not go on your return and changes nothing about your tax bill when you receive it or when you repay it. Grants, bursaries and scholarships are different: those arrive on a tax slip and may need to be reported, although full-time students often find the scholarship exemption covers them. The only tax benefit tied to the loan itself is the credit for interest paid on a government student loan.

Yes, through several taxes stacked on one purchase. Ottawa charges an excise duty on tobacco manufactured in or imported into Canada, each province adds its own tobacco tax, and GST or HST applies to the retail price on top. Vaping products carry a separate federal duty, shared with some provinces. Rates are adjusted in most budgets and by indexing, so check the current excise duty rates on the CRA site instead of relying on an older figure.

Payroll withholding is only an estimate. Your employer taxes each pay period as though the year continues unchanged, using nothing but the credits on your TD1. Anything payroll cannot take into account — RRSP contributions, donations, medical costs, a second job, a mid-year job change — settles only when you file, and a bonus can leave a gap as well, because the tax withheld on it is only an estimate of what the extra income will ultimately attract. Over-withholding gives you a refund; under-withholding leaves a balance owing. A refund is your own money coming back.

New and substantially renovated homes are taxable, so GST or HST applies to the purchase price and is normally collected by the builder at closing. A resale home already used as a residence is exempt, so no GST or HST applies. Buyers of a new home to live in may claim the new housing rebate, which returns part of the tax and is often credited against the price. Long-term residential rent is exempt; commercial property and vacant land follow separate rules.

You owe a balance when the tax withheld or paid during the year came to less than your total tax for the year. Common causes are two employers each applying the basic personal amount, self-employment or rental income with no withholding at all, investment income, RRSP withdrawals taxed at a flat rate, and CPP or OAS with little tax taken off. For the 2025 tax year the balance was due 30 April 2026. Extra withholding or instalments stops it recurring.

Track it in CRA My Account. A change requested through Change my return, or on a paper T1-ADJ, sits in process until a notice of reassessment is issued, and any extra refund follows that notice rather than arriving before it. Adjustments are handled separately from the original assessment: a routine change requested online runs on the same short CRA service standard as an online-filed return, while a complex change, or one sent on paper, takes considerably longer. The CRA calculates any refund interest owed to you automatically.

Part I tax is the main income tax the Income Tax Act imposes on individuals, corporations and trusts on their taxable income, so when a corporate return shows Part I tax, that is its ordinary federal income tax. For 2026, a Canadian-controlled private corporation pays the 9% federal small business rate on the first $500,000 of active business income and the 15% general net rate above that. Other Parts of the Act carry separate levies, including tax on a private corporation's investment income.