Pocket-Friendly Professional Corporation Tax Return for Canadian Businesses

Online banking is the simplest route: add the CRA as a payee, select the account and tax year precisely, and pay from your chequing account. CRA My Payment takes debit card payments, and pre-authorised debit can be scheduled in My Account or My Business Account for a single amount or a run of instalments. Corporations and GST/HST registrants use the same channels under their business number. Keep the confirmation number and allow several days for the payment to post.

For personal income tax, your account number is your social insurance number. For a business it is the nine-digit business number plus the two-letter program identifier and four-digit reference, so corporation tax, GST/HST and payroll each have their own account. Select the matching payment type and the correct tax year or period as well: a payment posted to the wrong program or year leaves the balance you meant to clear still outstanding and still accruing interest.

An incorporated small business generally pays the federal small business rate of 9% on its first $500,000 of active business income for 2026 instead of the 15% general rate, plus a reduced provincial rate, in Ontario 3.2% and falling to 2.2% from 1 July 2026. Unincorporated businesses deduct reasonable expenses on a T2125 instead. Both can claim capital cost allowance, home-office and vehicle costs, and targeted incentives exist for research and hiring.

Often yes. An inground pool is a permanent improvement, so your provincial assessment authority can add it to the assessed value of the property, and a higher assessment means a higher municipal tax bill. The increase reflects what the pool adds to market value, not what you spent building it. Permits for excavation and fencing are usually how the assessor finds out. Your assessment notice sets out the review process if the addition looks overstated.

Yes. A bank or other payer that issues you a T5 also files a copy with the Canada Revenue Agency, so your investment income is on file whether or not the slip reaches you. Issued slips generally show up in My Account, which is worth checking before you file. Report the income even when a slip is missing or late, because omitting it invites a reassessment with interest, and interest income is taxable in full at your marginal rate.

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.

Only if you are authorised first. The CRA will not discuss an account with anyone who is not on file as a representative, even a spouse or adult child. The taxpayer can add you online through My Account, or you can submit an AUT-01 with their signature. For someone who cannot sign, the CRA needs legal documents such as a power of attorney or estate paperwork. Authorisation can be limited to view-only access.

Call the CRA enquiries line for individuals or businesses published on canada.ca, and have your social insurance number, date of birth and a figure from a recent return ready, because the agent verifies your identity before discussing your file. Waits are shortest early in the morning and outside the spring filing rush. Someone else can only speak for you if you authorise them, which is done through My Account or an AUT-01.

Yes. Canadian Armed Forces members are taxed like other employees, with pay and taxable allowances reported on a T4 and income tax, CPP and EI withheld at source. Relief is targeted rather than general: members deployed on designated international missions can claim a deduction for the deployment period, and some allowances are not taxable. Your province of residence for tax follows your posting and family circumstances, which matters when you move mid-year. CRA's page for Armed Forces members has the current limits.

Yes. Dividends and most other investment income are taxable in the year received, but interest is reported as it accrues each year, so a compound GIC or strip bond produces taxable interest annually even though nothing is paid out until maturity; the amounts usually appear on a T5 slip, and income below the slip-issuing threshold still has to be reported. A share's rise in value is taxed only when you sell, and only part of the resulting capital gain is included in income.

Travel insurance is only partly claimable. The medical portion of a travel policy generally counts as a private health services plan premium and can be included with your medical expenses, while trip cancellation, baggage and interruption coverage cannot. Ask the insurer to break the premium down, because a single quoted price will not support the claim. Insurance bought for a genuine business trip is deductible against business income instead.

Payments from a registered source, such as an annuity bought with RRSP or pension money, are fully taxable as income in the year received. A non-registered annuity is taxed only on its interest element, because the rest of each payment returns your own capital: a prescribed annuity spreads that interest evenly across the payments, while a non-prescribed one reports more of it in the early years. Slips report the taxable portion annually.