Expert Tax Accountants in Fernie

There is no single rate. Federal personal income tax for 2026 runs through five brackets: 14%, then 20.5%, 26%, 29% and 33% on the highest band, and your province's brackets stack on top, so your combined marginal rate is the federal rate plus the provincial one. The 2026 federal basic personal amount is $16,452, tapering to $14,829 as net income rises from $181,440 to $258,482. Capital gains and Canadian dividends are taxed on a different basis.

GST in British Columbia is 5% for 2026, the same federal rate as everywhere in Canada and unchanged since 1 January 2008. BC also charges a separate 7% provincial sales tax, so most taxable sales come to 12% in total. The two are separate systems: GST is registered and filed with the CRA, PST with the province, and some goods and services are exempt from PST while the 5% GST still applies.

British Columbia sends every registered owner of residential property in a designated taxable area a letter with a declaration code and letter ID. Use those to declare online, or by phone, for each owner on title separately - a spouse cannot declare for both. You state how the home was used during the calendar year and claim an exemption if one fits; most owners are exempt but still must declare. Miss it and the tax is assessed.

Some services only. BC's 7% PST reaches legal services, telecommunication services, accommodation, and work performed on goods such as repair, maintenance and installation. Many other services, including most professional and consulting fees, fall outside PST, though the 5% GST still applies to them. Because the list is specific rather than general, check the province's PST bulletin for your line of work before you register, charge tax or price a quote.

Often yes. GST at 5% generally applies when vacant land is sold in the course of a business or an adventure in the nature of trade, including subdivided or development land. Bare land sold by an individual from personal use, or severed from a principal residence in limited circumstances, can be exempt. BC's 7% PST does not apply to real property. Get the status confirmed in writing before closing, since the seller usually bears the assessment.

The slip reporting employment insurance benefits is issued in February following the year you received them, ahead of the filing deadline. Look for it in your My Service Canada Account and in CRA My Account; a paper copy is mailed if you have not chosen electronic delivery. EI benefits are taxable, and the tax withheld at source is often less than the tax finally due, so expect a balance owing if you had other income that year.

British Columbia's speculation and vacancy tax is declared once a year for the previous calendar year, and every owner on title must file a separate declaration each spring even when the home is fully exempt. Miss the declaration and the province bills you at the maximum rate until you correct it. The exact due date and the declaration portal are on the BC government's speculation and vacancy tax page. It is provincial, so it is not part of your T1 return.

Yes. Tips are income whether they come as cash, on a card, or out of a pooling arrangement, and they are reportable even when no slip shows them. Controlled tips that run through the employer appear on your T4 with tax, CPP and EI already withheld. Direct and pooled cash tips are not withheld on, so you add them to your return yourself and may owe a balance. Keep a daily log and set money aside.

Yes. CRA My Account holds your notices of assessment and reassessment, lets you view returns for a number of prior years, and lists the slips the CRA received, such as T4, T4A and T5. Keep in mind these are the CRA's records of what was assessed, not the file your software produced, so figures can differ if the return was adjusted. Records supporting a return should be kept six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to.

There is no household return in Canada: each person files their own T1. Benefits and credits instead use family net income, meaning your net income plus that of your spouse or common-law partner for the same year. That is why one partner's raise can cut a benefit paid to the other, and why both should file even when one has no income. Add the net income from both returns to estimate it, then check the CRA page for the specific benefit.

British Columbia's provincial sales tax is 7% for 2026, on top of the 5% federal GST, for 12% combined. You must register and charge it separately on most tangible goods, software, telecommunications, legal services and services performed on goods. Food for human consumption and many other services are not taxable. Labour follows the item it relates to, so work on goods can be taxable while work on real property generally is not.

British Columbia charges its own corporate rate on top of the federal rate, so the figure that matters is the federal rate plus the provincial rate for your year end. For 2026 the federal side is 9% on the first $500,000 of active business income for a qualifying Canadian-controlled private corporation and 15% on general income. Confirm the current British Columbia small business and general rates on the CRA and provincial rate tables before relying on a combined number.