Expert Tax Accountants in West Kelowna

Sales tax in British Columbia totals 12% for 2026: the 5% federal GST plus 7% provincial sales tax. Both are calculated on the pre-tax price, so they do not compound. PST has a wider list of exemptions than GST, so many receipts show only 5%, while a few items go the other way and carry a PST rate above the general 7%, liquor and passenger vehicles among them, so check the BC rate that applies to the item. Income tax is separate.

Unpaid property tax collects penalty and interest at the rate the municipality sets, added monthly to the balance. The municipality can register a lien against the title, which has to be cleared before you sell or refinance, and can eventually sell the property at a tax sale to recover the arrears. That process takes years and follows the province's municipal legislation. Most municipalities will agree to a payment arrangement first, so contact them early.

Parliament writes federal tax law: the government proposes changes, usually in a budget, and the bill must pass the House of Commons and the Senate and receive Royal Assent. Each province and territory legislates its own income tax and sales tax, and municipalities set property tax. The Canada Revenue Agency does not make law; it administers and interprets it, and its published guidance does not bind the courts.

Yes. Filing a T1 is required if you owe tax for the year, if the CRA asks you to file, and in several other situations such as disposing of property or repaying benefits. Paying assessed tax is a legal obligation, and interest and a late-filing penalty apply if you miss the deadline. For the 2025 tax year the personal deadline was 30 April 2026, with payment due the same day even for the self-employed.

No. Canada has no income tax exemption based on disability status. Relief comes through the disability tax credit, which reduces tax payable for someone with a severe and prolonged impairment once a medical practitioner certifies the impairment and the CRA approves the claim. Unused credit can often be transferred to a supporting spouse or parent, and approval also opens access to other programs. Check the CRA's disability tax credit pages for the current amounts and the certification steps.

Taxi fares in British Columbia carry the 5% GST but no PST. PST applies to goods and a listed set of services, and passenger transportation is not one of them. Ride-hailing trips are treated the same way. Drivers running a taxi, limousine or ride-share business must register for GST regardless of revenue, so the $30,000 small-supplier threshold does not apply to them. The fare receipt should show the GST separately.

12% for 2026. Vancouver charges no city sales tax, so a purchase there carries British Columbia's 7% provincial sales tax on top of the 5% federal GST. Provincial sales tax does not reach everything: many basic groceries and some services fall outside it, so a receipt can show only the 5% GST. Certain supplies are zero-rated or exempt from GST as well, which is why a total can sit below the headline 12%.

Each spouse files a separate T1 and is taxed on their own income; there is no joint return and no married filing rate. You do report each other's net income, because the couple's combined income sets benefits such as the Canada child benefit and GST/HST credit, and it drives the spousal amount and pooled medical or donation claims. Pension income splitting, spousal RRSP contributions and prescribed-rate loans are the usual ways couples shift income legitimately.

You pay tax of 1% per month on the highest excess amount in the account for each month the excess is there, and this remains the rule for 2026. Unlike an RRSP there is no buffer, so the tax starts on the first dollar over. It keeps running until you withdraw the excess or new January room absorbs it, and you have to file a TFSA return. The CRA can waive the tax for a reasonable error.

Federal personal income tax is progressive: several brackets apply, each only to the slice of taxable income inside it, and the thresholds are indexed annually, so read the CRA table for the year you are filing. Provincial tax is charged on top of it. For corporations the federal small business rate is 9% on the first $500,000 of active business income for 2026, and the federal general net rate is 15% for the same year.

Yes. GST at 5% applies to taxi and ride-share fares in British Columbia, and BC PST does not apply to the fare itself. Taxi and commercial ride-sharing operators cannot use the $30,000 small-supplier threshold for 2026, so they must register and charge GST from their first fare however small the business. The tax is usually built into the metered or app-quoted price rather than added at the end of the trip.

Land transfer tax is a tax the buyer pays on closing when title changes hands, levied by most provinces — Alberta and Saskatchewan instead charge land title registration fees, and in Nova Scotia the deed transfer tax is set municipally. Where a province does levy it, the scale is usually graduated and applied to the purchase price, so a higher price attracts a higher effective rate. Some municipalities charge a second land transfer tax of their own, and several provinces, including Ontario and British Columbia, offer first-time buyer relief, as does the City of Toronto on its own municipal tax. Your lawyer collects and remits it at closing, so check your province's current schedule before you budget.