Pocket-Friendly T2 Return for Non-Profit Organizations

Most people pay through online or telephone banking, adding the CRA as a payee and choosing the exact account and year, such as a personal balance owing or an instalment. The alternatives are CRA My Payment with a debit card, pre-authorised debit scheduled in My Account, a credit card or e-transfer through a third-party provider that charges its own fee, or paying at your bank with a remittance voucher. For the 2025 tax year the balance was due 30 April 2026.

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 on 23 February 2026 and stays open until 29 January 2027. You can prepare a return before the service opens, but it cannot be transmitted, and slips such as T4s and T5s often arrive only in late February. Filing early makes sense if you expect a refund. If you expect a balance owing, you can still file early and pay by 30 April 2026.

Medical costs give a non-refundable credit rather than a deduction. Eligible items include prescription drugs, dental work, eyeglasses and contact lenses, fees paid to medical practitioners authorised to practise, private health plan premiums, attendant care and travel for treatment unavailable locally. Over-the-counter products and most cosmetic procedures do not qualify. Only the portion above an income-based threshold counts, the claim period may end at any point in the tax year rather than following the calendar year, and pooling the family claim on one spouse usually helps.

Sign in to CRA My Account, go to the tax returns area and open the assessed return for the year you need. The T1 General is the return itself, so the copy you download there is what lenders, landlords and immigration officers usually ask for, normally alongside the notice of assessment. If the year is too old to appear online, request a copy by phone or in writing and expect it by mail.

Yes. A personal T1 can be prepared and filed by the taxpayer through CRA-certified software, and a straightforward year of employment slips and a few credits is manageable. Corporate filing is harder: a T2 has to reconcile to financial statements, and for tax years beginning after 2023 electronic filing is mandatory for essentially every corporation regardless of gross revenue. Self-employment, rental property, investments sold during the year, a move between provinces and foreign income are where self-filed returns most often go wrong.

The consumer bears it; the business collects it. A registered vendor adds GST/HST to taxable sales, holds it in trust and remits it to the CRA, recovering the tax it paid on its own inputs through input tax credits. So businesses in the chain are generally neutral, while the final buyer pays. Some purchasers, including certain Indigenous purchases on reserve, governments and diplomats, have relief, and low-income households receive the quarterly GST/HST credit.

No. The CRA closed its public walk-in counters years ago, so there is no office you can attend to file a return or ask questions. Service runs through the enquiries lines, secure messaging in My Account or My Business Account, and mail, and an agent can sometimes arrange a scheduled callback. Free volunteer clinics help modest-income filers in person during filing season.

All of it, at your own marginal rate rather than a special tip rate. Tips are added to your other income, so the tax depends on the bracket that income falls into: federal rates for 2026 start at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%, with provincial tax on top. Controlled tips paid through payroll already have income tax, CPP and EI withheld; tips received directly you report yourself.

Usually yes. Freight charged as part of selling a taxable good is treated as part of that sale, so the same GST or HST applies to the delivery as to the item. Deliver something zero-rated or exempt, such as basic groceries, and no tax applies to the freight either. A stand-alone delivery service you buy on its own is generally taxable in its own right. Provincial sales tax rules differ, so check your province.

Line 23600 is net income on the T1 return, being total income less deductions such as RRSP contributions, union dues, childcare and support payments. It sits above taxable income, which is calculated further down after additional deductions. Net income matters because the CRA uses it to test income-tested benefits and credits, including the Canada Child Benefit and the GST/HST credit. You will find the figure on the return itself and on your notice of assessment.

No. Non-profit describes how an organisation is set up and how it may use its funds; tax exempt describes how it is treated for one particular tax. A non-profit can be exempt from income tax and still have to register for and charge GST/HST, remit payroll deductions, and file annual information returns. Only a registered charity or other qualified donee can issue receipts that donors use to claim a credit, and charitable registration is a separate application to the CRA.