Expert Tax Accountants in Brandon

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse carried on a business, the return itself is due 15 June 2026, but any balance owing is still due 30 April 2026. Interest runs on unpaid amounts after the payment deadline, and a late-filed return with a balance owing also attracts a late-filing penalty. Filing on time keeps benefit and credit payments flowing.

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.

Most tax saving comes from a short list of levers: contributing to an RRSP or a spousal RRSP, holding investments inside a TFSA, FHSA or RESP so growth is sheltered, claiming every deduction and credit you actually qualify for, and splitting income where the rules allow, such as pension income splitting. Business owners add expense timing and salary versus dividend planning. Order matters, so decide before year end rather than at filing time.

Each municipality sets its own due dates, so they differ from city to city and no national rule applies. Most issue an interim bill early in the year and a final bill once the budget and rates are set, with each bill split into instalments. Many municipalities also offer monthly pre-authorised payment plans. Late amounts attract penalty and interest charged monthly on the balance, so confirm the dates printed on your own bill.

Most refunds on returns filed online arrive in about two weeks; a non-resident return can take up to sixteen weeks. A longer wait usually means the CRA is reviewing a claim, is waiting on a slip or receipt, holds stale direct deposit details, or has applied the refund against another balance such as tax owing, family support or a student loan. Check My Account for the notice of assessment and for any letter asking you for documents.

Not across the board. For 2026 the lowest federal bracket rate is 14%, with 20.5%, 26%, 29% and 33% applying above it, and the federal basic personal amount is $16,452, tapering to $14,829 on net income between $181,440 and $258,482. The capital gains inclusion rate stays at one-half for 2025 and 2026; the 2024 proposal to raise it was never enacted. Brackets and credits are indexed annually, so check the CRA's rates for the year you are filing.

Compare the tax deducted shown on your slips, plus any instalments, with the total tax payable on your notice of assessment. If what you paid exceeds what you owed, the difference comes back as a refund and the notice shows it. Common causes are working only part of the year, two employers each withholding as though they were your only one, or credits and deductions you did not claim. Missed claims can be corrected with a T1-ADJ.

The annual statement or receipt from your municipality shows the total billed and paid for the year. A municipal online tax account normally lists payments by year and by instalment, and where property tax is collected with your mortgage, the lender's year-end statement reports what was remitted. Municipal property records are usually searchable by address or roll number. Keep that figure if you are claiming a rental, business or workspace share, or a provincial property tax credit.

Both federal and provincial tax apply, and the rates are graduated rather than flat. For 2026 the lowest federal bracket is taxed at 14%, and the federal basic personal amount of $16,452 shelters the first slice of income, so tax on $49,000 works out well below 14% of the whole amount. Your province adds its own bracket and credits, and CPP and EI also come off employment pay. Use the CRA's payroll deductions calculator.

T1 is the personal income tax and benefit return, so the T1 program is the CRA's handling of individual returns: intake, assessment, the notice of assessment, refunds or balances owing, reviews and later adjustments. Corporations sit in the T2 program and trusts in the T3 program instead. When T1 appears on a CRA letter or in My Account, it points at your personal return for the tax year named on that notice.

For a return filed online the CRA's service standard is about two weeks from filing to refund, and the money normally moves within days of the notice of assessment when direct deposit is set up. A non-resident return can take up to sixteen weeks. If the notice shows a refund but nothing has arrived, confirm your deposit details in My Account and check whether the amount was applied against another balance you owe.

A reasonable allowance paid to cover meals and incidental costs while you travel for work on your employer's business is generally not taxable and is not reported as income. It becomes taxable when it is not tied to travel, is really extra pay, or exceeds what the costs reasonably require. Overtime meal allowances and allowances for travel inside your normal work area follow their own rules, so check the CRA's employer guide on allowances before treating a payment as tax free.