Expert Tax Accountants in Clarence-Rockland

Ontario HST is 13% for 2026: the 5% federal GST plus an 8% provincial component, unchanged since 1 July 2010, and the CRA collects all of it. A $100 taxable purchase therefore carries $13 of HST. The rate follows the place of supply, so an Ontario delivery takes 13% even if you invoice from another province. Basic groceries and prescription drugs are zero-rated; most long-term residential rent is exempt and carries no HST.

Up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax, the maximum since 1 January 2017. That cancels the tax completely on a home of roughly $368,000 and reduces it on anything dearer. You must be at least 18, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and have never owned a home anywhere in the world; your spouse or common-law partner must not have owned a home anywhere in the world at any time while you were spouses; and you must occupy the home within nine months.

Yes, tax is withheld from Employment Insurance benefits before the money reaches you, but the amount held back is often less than you end up owing. It is worked out on the benefit alone and ignores the employment or self-employment income you earned in the rest of the year, so a balance is common at filing. You can ask Service Canada to withhold more. Report the full benefit on your T1.

Yes. Meals and drinks served in an Ontario restaurant are taxable at 13% HST, unlike basic groceries, which are zero-rated. Ontario also gives a point-of-sale rebate of the provincial part of the HST on qualifying prepared food and beverages sold under a set price, so those items end up carrying only the 5% federal portion. The CRA's point-of-sale rebate guidance lists the qualifying items and the current price limit.

Yes. Taxi and limousine fares are taxable services, so HST at 13% applies in Ontario and appears on the meter total or receipt. Ride-share trips are treated the same way, and the driver or platform is responsible for collecting and remitting the tax. Drivers who operate a taxi or limousine business must register for GST/HST regardless of revenue: the $30,000 small-supplier threshold does not shelter them. See the CRA's guidance for taxi and ride-sharing drivers.

A laptop is fully taxable at the sales tax rate for the place it is delivered. That means 5% GST in Alberta and the territories, 13% HST in Ontario, 14% in Nova Scotia from 1 April 2025, and 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. On top of GST, British Columbia adds 7% PST, Saskatchewan 6%, Manitoba 7% RST and Quebec 9.975% QST. Registered businesses can generally recover the GST or HST paid.

For 2026 an employer matches CPP at 5.95% on earnings between $3,500 and $74,600, up to $4,230.45 per employee, plus CPP2 at 4% on earnings between $74,600 and $85,000, up to $416. Employment Insurance costs 1.4 times the employee premium, which is 2.282% of insurable earnings up to $68,900, a maximum of $1,572.30. Provincial payroll or workers' compensation levies sit on top of that.

Sign in to CRA My Account and open the carryover amounts section, which lists unused amounts the CRA has on file, such as tuition, RRSP room, capital and non-capital losses, and donations carried forward. The same figures appear on your latest notice of assessment. Use the CRA's numbers rather than your software's, because a reassessment can change them. If a carryforward you expected is missing, the year it arose may need adjusting first.

Ontario's Employment Standards Act lists the public holidays and gives most employees public holiday pay whether or not they work that day. Eligibility turns on the last-and-first rule: the employee must work the scheduled shift before and the one after the holiday unless there is reasonable cause. Public holiday pay is set by a formula in the Act using regular wages earned in the weeks before the holiday, and an employee who works the day receives premium pay or a substitute day off.

Net income for tax purposes is not a figure printed on your T4. Begin with total income, which includes the employment income in box 14 of each T4 plus every other source, then subtract the deductions the return allows, such as RRSP contributions, union and professional dues, child care, moving expenses and deductible employment expenses. What remains is net income on line 23600 of the T1, and it drives most income-tested credits. Take-home pay is a different figure entirely.

CRA stands for the Canada Revenue Agency, the federal body that administers income tax, GST/HST, payroll deductions and benefit payments such as the Canada child benefit. It collects for the federal government and, under agreement, for most provinces and territories. Quebec is the main exception: Revenu Quebec administers provincial income tax and the provincial sales tax there. Alberta and Quebec also administer their own corporate income tax.

No. Care for your own children is a personal cost, so it cannot be deducted on a business statement or through a corporation, even if you work from home or the care is what lets you take on more work. Claim it instead as a child care expense deduction on the personal return of the lower-income spouse. If a corporation pays the bill, the amount is normally treated as a taxable benefit to the employee or shareholder.