Expert Tax Accountants in Winnipeg

Property tax is an annual municipal levy on real estate, charged by the city or town where the property sits rather than by the CRA. The bill is the assessed value of the property multiplied by the tax rate the municipality sets each year, and it funds local services such as roads, waste collection, policing and the education portion the province adds. Assessed value is set by a provincial assessment authority, so it is not the price you paid.

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.

Multiply the assessed value of the property by the tax rate for its property class. Assessment is set by a provincial assessment authority on its own cycle and increases are often phased in, so the value lags the market. The rate is set each year by the municipality out of its budget, with an education portion added by the province. Both figures appear on your notice, which is why identical homes in different municipalities carry different bills.

Most enquiries are settled without a phone call in My Account, My Business Account or Represent a Client, where assessments, balances, slips and CRA mail all sit. When you need a person, use the enquiries line for your programme from the contact page on canada.ca, and have your social insurance or business number plus a figure from a recent return ready for identity checks. Written enquiries go to the tax centre named on your notice of assessment.

A tax return reports a calendar year of income and settles your account with the CRA. You file a T1, list the income from your slips along with any self-employment or investment income, claim deductions and credits, and the return calculates the tax owed. Tax already withheld from your pay is credited against that figure, leaving either a refund or a balance to pay. For the 2025 tax year the deadline was 30 April 2026, and an online return for that year is usually processed in about two weeks.

Spread or shelter it. Contributing to an RRSP in the same year, if you have room, offsets the income directly; the RRSP dollar limit is $33,810 for 2026 and $32,490 for 2025. Where the lump sum is a retiring allowance, part may be transferred to an RRSP outside your normal room. Qualifying retroactive lump sums can be taxed as if received in the earlier years. Ask the payer to reduce withholding only with CRA approval.

For the 2025 tax year, most people had to file and pay by 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse were self-employed, the filing deadline moved to 15 June 2026, but any balance owing was still due 30 April 2026. Corporations work on their own fiscal year: the T2 is due six months after year end, with the balance due two months after year end, or three months for an eligible CCPC claiming the small business deduction.

A municipal accommodation tax, often called a hotel or occupancy tax, is a local levy on short-term accommodation charged by the municipality rather than by the CRA. Ontario municipalities are permitted to impose one, and each city or town sets its own rate, exemptions and remittance rules in its bylaw. It is separate from GST/HST, which still applies to the room charge at 13% in Ontario in 2026. Confirm the current rate with the municipality itself.

There is a $2,000 lifetime cushion, and it becomes available in the year after the year you turn 18: from then on you can go over your deduction limit by up to $2,000 with no penalty, though that $2,000 is not deductible. Above the cushion, tax of 1% per month applies to the excess for every month it stays in the plan, and the T1-OVP return is due within 90 days of the year end. These are the 2026 rules.

You cannot write off the income itself, but you deduct the costs of earning it. Common current expenses are mortgage interest (not principal), property tax, insurance, utilities you pay, condo fees, advertising, property management, and repairs that maintain the property. Improvements that better the property are capital and depreciated instead. Only the rented portion counts where you also live there. Keep invoices for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to.

Not automatically. A refund is overpaid tax coming back, so it turns on how much was withheld against what you owe, not on earning less. Lower income does mean a smaller tax bill and can qualify you for income-tested credits and benefits, which is why lower earners often see money back. Someone with no withholding at all, such as a self-employed person, can earn very little and still owe a balance.

Other employment income is employment-related money that does not show up in the employment income box of a T4. Common examples are tips and gratuities, employment income earned outside Canada, net research grants, wage-loss replacement benefits, royalties from your own work, and certain amounts allocated by a partnership. You report it on the other employment income line of the T1 even when no slip was issued, and you keep your own records supporting the figure.