Expert Tax Accountants in Halifax

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse were self-employed, the filing deadline moves to 15 June 2026, but any balance owing is still due 30 April 2026. Interest starts the day after the payment deadline, and a late-filing penalty applies on top when a return with a balance owing is filed late. File on time even with nothing owing, because income-tested benefits are recalculated from the filed return.

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.

Online banking is the simplest route: add the CRA as a payee, select the account and tax year precisely, and pay from your chequing account. CRA My Payment takes debit card payments, and pre-authorised debit can be scheduled in My Account or My Business Account for a single amount or a run of instalments. Corporations and GST/HST registrants use the same channels under their business number. Keep the confirmation number and allow several days for the payment to post.

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.

Multiply the pre-tax price by the rate for the province of supply. On a $100 purchase in 2026 that is $13.00 in Ontario (13%), $14.00 in Nova Scotia (14%), and $15.00 in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador or Prince Edward Island (15%). In the non-participating provinces and the three territories only the 5% GST applies, so $5.00, plus any provincial sales tax billed separately.

EI benefits are taxable income. Service Canada withholds income tax before each payment reaches you, and the total benefits plus the tax withheld appear on your T4E for the year. That withholding follows a basic calculation rather than your full marginal rate, so people who also worked during the year often end up with a balance owing at filing. Asking Service Canada to withhold more, or setting money aside yourself, avoids a surprise. Higher-income claimants can also have to repay part of their regular benefits through the return.

The Canada Child Benefit is a tax-free monthly payment, and the amount depends on how many children you have, their ages, and your family adjusted net income from the previous tax year. Maximum amounts are set each July and are reduced as family income rises, so two households with the same number of children can receive very different deposits. Check your own entitlement in CRA My Account or with the CRA child and family benefits calculator.

Possibly, but not through the CRA. Property tax is municipal and is based on the assessed value set by your province's assessment authority. Adding solar can raise assessed value if it is treated as an improvement, and some provinces exempt or partly exempt residential rooftop systems. Ask your assessment authority and municipality before installing. Income tax is separate: panels on a rental or business property may qualify for capital cost allowance.

The notice of assessment is issued the moment the CRA finishes assessing your return, so its timing tracks the assessment: about two weeks for a 2025 personal return filed online, up to sixteen weeks for a non-resident return, and a considerably longer standard on paper. It appears in CRA My Account first, ahead of any paper copy. Turn on email notifications so you know when it lands, and read it against what you filed.

Four things come off: federal income tax, Nova Scotia provincial income tax, CPP and EI. For 2026, CPP is 5.95% of pensionable earnings between the $3,500 exemption and $74,600, with CPP2 at 4% on earnings up to $85,000, and EI is $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings to a $68,900 maximum. Income tax withheld depends on your pay and the credits you claimed on the personal tax credits return you gave your employer.

No fixed multiplier works, because income tax is progressive and CPP and EI stop at annual ceilings, so the deduction rate changes as pay rises. The practical method is iterative: pick a gross figure, run it through the CRA's payroll deductions online calculator, compare the net to your target and adjust until they meet. Payroll software runs the same loop automatically. Where an employer guarantees a fixed net amount, the employer absorbs the tax and the calculation is redone each period.

Not always, but filing every year is usually the better choice. A return is required when you owe tax, when the CRA asks for one, and in situations such as disposing of property or repaying certain benefits. Even with no tax payable, filing keeps benefit and credit payments flowing, builds RRSP room and records tuition amounts or capital losses you can carry forward. Personal returns for the 2025 tax year were due 30 April 2026.