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File a T1 return for the year, sending it electronically with CRA-certified software or mailing a paper return. Gather your slips and receipts first and check them against the ones listed in My Account. For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline was 30 April 2026, or 15 June 2026 to file if you or your spouse were self-employed, with payment still due 30 April 2026. CRA online filing for 2025 returns closes 29 January 2027.

A tax deduction is an amount subtracted from your income before tax is worked out, so it reduces the income being taxed rather than the tax bill directly. Its worth depends on your marginal rate: the higher the rate, the more the deduction saves. Common examples are RRSP contributions, child care costs, union dues, moving expenses and business expenses. Credits work the other way, reducing the tax calculated on that income.

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.

Three are standard: federal and provincial income tax withheld at source, CPP contributions (QPP in Quebec) and EI premiums. For 2026 an employee pays CPP of 5.95% on earnings above the $3,500 exemption up to $74,600, second additional CPP of 4% on earnings up to $85,000, and EI of $1.63 per $100 up to $68,900 of insurable earnings. Anything else — pension, union dues, benefit premiums, garnishments — comes from your employer’s own arrangements.

Work down the page. Total income comes first, then deductions, which give net income and taxable income. Below that, federal and provincial tax are calculated, non-refundable credits are subtracted, and amounts already paid — tax withheld on slips and any instalments — are applied. The last line is your refund or balance owing. Then compare it with your notice of assessment, because the CRA may have changed a figure while processing the return.

Because GST/HST follows the place of supply, not the seller's address. For goods, the rate is set by the province they are delivered to; for most services, by the customer's address on file. So an Ontario business billing Halifax charges 14% in 2026, Moncton 15%, and Calgary 5%. Getting it wrong means under-collecting or over-collecting, and the Canada Revenue Agency assesses any shortfall against the seller.

Long-term residential rent is exempt, so no GST/HST is charged on it in 2026. Exempt is different from zero-rated: because the rent is exempt, the landlord also cannot claim input tax credits on repairs, utilities or management fees, and that tax becomes a real cost. Short-term accommodation — a stay of less than one month of continuous occupancy — is taxable at the province's rate in 2026 unless the charge is $20 or less for each day of occupancy, in which case it is exempt no matter how short the stay, and commercial rent is taxable, and a mixed-use property needs its input tax credits apportioned.

A write-off is an expense deducted from income so that tax applies to a smaller amount. It is not a refund of what you spent: the saving equals the expense multiplied by your marginal rate. Employees may deduct very little, while a business or self-employed person can deduct reasonable costs incurred to earn income, though categories such as meals and entertainment, vehicles and home office are restricted. Keep receipts, because the CRA can ask for them years later.

Telecommunications services are taxable, so the bill carries 5% GST plus whatever provincial tax applies where the service is supplied: 7% PST in British Columbia, 6% in Saskatchewan, or the provincial part folded into HST at 13% in Ontario and 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025. Alberta and the territories see only the 5% GST. A business can recover the GST or HST portion as an input tax credit; PST is not recoverable.

Yes. Household paper products are ordinary taxable goods, not basic groceries, so GST or HST applies at the rate where you buy them: 5% GST alone in Alberta and the territories, 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia from 1 April 2025, and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec charge GST plus their own provincial tax.

Start in My Account, My Business Account or Represent a Client, where balances, slips, returns, mail and secure messages already sit. For anything the portals cannot do, use the enquiries lines on the CRA's Contact the CRA page, which are toll-free within Canada, or write to the tax centre named on your notice. When the lines are busy the phone system sometimes offers an automated call-back instead of holding.

Yes. Service Canada withholds federal and provincial tax from Employment Insurance payments, but the amount held back is often less than the tax finally owed, because the withholding takes no account of your other income for the year. Benefits are reported to you on a T4E slip and go on your T1 return. You can ask Service Canada to withhold more if you want to avoid a balance owing at filing time.