Affordable T5018 Subcontractor Reporting for Canadian Businesses

Sign in to CRA My Account, or use the CRA's mobile app, where the return shows as received, in process or assessed, and the refund amount and payment date appear once it has been assessed. The CRA also runs an automated telephone service giving the same information. A representative you have authorised through Represent a Client can check it for you. If the status has not moved past the published processing time, the return is probably under review.

Yes, in the year it is received, but the form matters. Salary continuance is ordinary employment income in box 14 of your T4, with regular payroll withholding plus CPP and EI. A lump-sum retiring allowance is reported in box 66 or 67, is not employment income, creates no RRSP room and carries no CPP or EI; tax on it is withheld at the flat lump-sum rates, which rarely match the tax finally owed, so a refund or balance shows up at filing.

Sign in to CRA My Account and read the balance on the account overview, or check the notice of assessment issued after your return is processed. It states the balance owing or the refund and any interest charged. Until the return is prepared there is no figure to check, so an estimate means adding up your slips and deductions. Interest runs on an unpaid balance from the payment deadline, and the CRA will consider a payment arrangement.

Your employer projects your pay over the full year, applies the federal brackets to that annualised figure, subtracts the credits you claimed on your TD1 forms, and withholds a proportional share each pay period. The same is done for your province, so one deduction line reflects both. Employers use the CRA payroll deductions calculator or its published tables. Where large deductions mean too much is being withheld, Form T1213 can reduce it; processing takes several weeks, so the request should go in during the autumn before the year it is meant to apply to.

A flat monthly cash allowance for a phone is taxable employment income and appears on the T4. If the employer instead pays the carrier directly, or reimburses the business portion of a bill on receipts, and the plan is reasonable and mainly for work, there is normally no taxable benefit; personal use of a basic plan the employer already pays for is generally accepted. Keep records showing the business purpose.

Yes. Tips and gratuities are taxable income in Canada, whether paid in cash, added to a card payment or shared through a tip pool. Amounts your employer controls and distributes usually run through payroll and appear on your T4 with CPP and EI withheld. Tips you receive directly are still reportable even though nobody reports them for you, so keep a daily record. Leaving them out is a common reason a server's return is reassessed.

Rent is not deductible against employment income, so most tenants claim nothing for it directly. It can still matter. Ontario tenants may report rent paid toward the Ontario energy and property tax credit on the provincial benefits schedule, and Quebec and Manitoba have their own renter measures. If you are self-employed or required to work from home, a reasonable share of rent based on workspace area is deductible. Keep receipts, the amounts paid and your landlord's details.

Add every source of income, subtract the deductions that reduce it to net income, then take off any further deductions to reach taxable income. Apply the federal brackets to that figure — for 2026 they begin at 14% and rise through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33% — and separately apply your province's brackets. The total is gross tax before credits. Non-refundable credits such as the basic personal amount then reduce it to the tax you actually owe.

Take gross pay for the period, subtract amounts that reduce taxable pay such as registered pension contributions, then apply the CRA's payroll deductions formulas, which set out the federal and provincial tax calculation, the CPP contribution on earnings above the basic exemption, and the EI premium. For 2026, CPP is 5.95% from each side, the basic exemption is $3,500 and the ceiling $74,600, while EI is $1.63 per $100 to $68,900. Check manual results against the CRA's online calculator.

T4 slips must be filed with the CRA and given to employees by the last day of February following the calendar year the slips cover. Where that day falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the next business day applies. Filing late brings a penalty that grows with the number of slips and how late they are. An employee who never receives a slip can usually view it in CRA My Account.

Tax makes up a large share of the retail price, and the exact share depends on the province. Three layers stack: federal excise duty on the tobacco, a provincial tobacco tax, and then GST or HST charged on the selling price. Provinces change their tobacco tax with almost every budget, so take the figures from your province's tobacco tax page and the federal excise duty rate schedule rather than from a general article.

A special levy or special assessment from a condominium corporation is claimable only against rental income, and only for the part that funds repairs and maintenance rather than an improvement. A levy paying for a new roof, new windows or a rebuilt garage is capital: add it to the cost of the unit and claim capital cost allowance, or let it reduce a future capital gain. On a home you live in yourself, none of it is deductible.