Economical Small Business 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.

There is no single threshold. Federal tax effectively begins once income passes your basic personal amount, $16,452 for 2026 and reduced to $14,829 at high incomes, and each province sets its own starting point, some of them lower. Other credits can lift the point where tax actually becomes payable. Filing is a separate question from paying: you may need to file with no tax owing at all, to claim benefits or report a disposition.

Rent on your home is not deductible on a federal return. Two exceptions matter. If you are self-employed or work from home under an employer's requirement, you can deduct the portion of rent tied to the workspace, based on the area used and the time it is used for work. And some provinces fold rent into a property or energy tax credit claimed through your return, Ontario and Manitoba among them. Keep receipts and your landlord's details.

The Canada Child Benefit goes to the person primarily responsible for the day-to-day care of a child under 18 who lives with them, where that person is a resident of Canada for tax purposes and they or their spouse or common-law partner is a citizen, permanent resident, protected person or eligible temporary resident. Both partners must file a return every year, because the amount is recalculated each July from family net income.

Yes. Realty tax, real property tax, real estate tax and municipal tax all describe the same annual charge your city or town levies on assessed property value. A bill often splits it into a municipal portion and an education or school portion, which is why wording differs between notices. It is not land transfer tax, which is a one-time charge on purchase, and not the federal Underused Housing Tax, which is a separate filing regime.

Property tax is an annual charge a municipality levies on real estate to fund local services such as roads, water, policing, fire and schools. A provincial assessment authority values the property, council sets a tax rate in its budget, and the bill is the assessed value multiplied by the rate for your property class. Unpaid amounts stay attached to the property itself. It is separate from income tax, so the city bills it, not the CRA.

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.

Your business number appears on every CRA notice, statement of account and remittance voucher, on GST/HST and payroll correspondence, and in My Business Account once you sign in. It is also on the confirmation issued when the account was opened, and on incorporation paperwork if the number came with registration. If nothing is to hand, the CRA business enquiries line can confirm it once it verifies that you are authorised to ask.

Marriage does not change your tax rates, and there is no couple's return to file. The gains come from pooling: transferring unused tuition, age, disability and pension credits, claiming the spouse or common-law partner amount where one income is low, splitting up to 50% of eligible pension income for the 2025 tax year, contributing to a spousal RRSP, and putting medical expenses or donations on a single return. Income-tested benefits move the other way, since they use combined family income.

A stipend is taxed according to what it actually pays for. Amounts for work performed are employment or self-employment income and fully taxable. A research or training stipend paid to a student can fall under the scholarship and bursary exemption if it relates to a qualifying program, while post-doctoral stipends are taxable. Check the slip: a T4 points to employment, a T4A to a fellowship or other income.

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.

Yes. Legal fees, land transfer tax, title searches and survey costs incurred to acquire a property form part of the cost of that property rather than a current expense. They are added to the adjusted cost base of a capital property, or to the capital cost of a depreciable building for capital cost allowance, and so reduce the gain on a later sale. Legal fees to arrange financing are treated differently and are usually deducted over several years.