Expert Tax Accountants in Mount Pearl

Rent on your home is not deductible on a Canadian return. Two situations change that. Self-employed people, and employees who meet the work-space-in-the-home conditions, may claim the share of rent tied to the area used for work. Several provinces also run a property tax or rent based credit, applied for on the provincial schedule filed with your T1, where rent paid affects the amount. Keep receipts and your landlord's details either way.

Yes, the CRA does telephone people, usually about a balance owing, a missing return, an audit or to verify information, and calls can come from many different numbers, so caller ID proves nothing either way. A real agent never demands payment by gift card, cryptocurrency or e-transfer, never threatens immediate arrest or deportation, and never asks for a password. If a call feels wrong, hang up, check your balance and mail in My Account, then call back using a number from canada.ca.

Sign in to CRA My Account and open the tax returns section, which lists your assessed returns, notices of assessment and reassessment, and carry-forward amounts for earlier years. You can also download a proof of income statement, request a copy by phone, or ask whoever prepared the return for you. Keep your own copy and the supporting records for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to.

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.

There is no single tax-free amount that applies to everyone. Federal and provincial basic personal amounts each shelter a band of income, so someone whose income stays within those amounts pays no income tax. The federal amount is reduced for higher earners, and every province sets its own figure that changes each year. Look up the basic personal amount for your province and tax year, and remember CPP and EI still come off employment income.

It should not. A T4A reports fees for services before sales tax, so the box amount is meant to exclude GST/HST. Some payers get this wrong and include the tax, which overstates the income the CRA sees against your name. Compare the slip with your own invoices and ask the payer for an amended slip if it is inflated. Report revenue net of GST/HST on your T2125 and account for the tax collected on your GST/HST return.

Your employer withholds income tax, CPP and EI. For 2026, CPP is 5.95% on earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and the $74,600 ceiling, plus CPP2 at 4% on earnings up to $85,000, and EI is $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings up to $68,900. Income tax withheld depends on your pay, your province and the credits you claimed on the personal tax credits return given to your employer. Federal rates for 2026 start at 14%.

For the 2025 tax year the balance was due 30 April 2026, including for self-employed filers whose return itself was not due until 15 June 2026. Interest runs on anything unpaid after that date and compounds daily, so the amount grows while you wait. If you cannot pay in full, contact the CRA to set up a payment arrangement; it does not stop interest, but it holds off collection action while you keep to it.

Usually not on a private sale - an individual selling a used personal item is not making that sale in the course of a business, so no GST/HST applies in 2026 — and that holds even if the seller is registered for GST/HST for other work. Buy the same item from a registered dealer and the province's full rate applies: 13% in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia, and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. Some provinces tax private vehicle sales separately, so check the provincial rules.

Often they do, but not because of a bonus for low income. A refund is simply the tax withheld from your pay minus the tax you actually owe, so when income sits near or below the amounts you can claim, most of what was deducted comes back. Refundable credits such as the GST/HST credit and the Canada workers benefit can be paid to you even when no tax was withheld at all. None of it arrives unless you file.

Your refund sits at the very end of the T1, in the refund or balance owing section on the last page. Total credits are compared with total payable: a credit balance is your refund, and only one of the two lines is filled in. Software completes it for you. The notice of assessment can still show a different amount if the CRA corrects the return or applies the refund against another debt you owe.

CRA telephone lines run on weekday business hours in your local time, with extended and weekend hours on some individual lines during the personal filing season; the current schedule sits on the contact page for the line you need, and the lines close on public holidays. My Account, My Business Account and NETFILE run nearly around the clock, so viewing slips, filing a return or making a payment does not depend on call centre hours.