Expert Tax Accountants in Elliot Lake

An Ontario resident pays federal tax of 14% to 33% for 2026 plus a separate Ontario calculation on the same taxable income, so your combined marginal rate is the federal rate for your band added to the Ontario rate for its band. Ontario also layers surtaxes onto the provincial portion at higher incomes and collects the Ontario Health Premium through the return. Take the current Ontario bracket, surtax and premium figures from the CRA's Ontario tax page.

Ontario charges land transfer tax on the value of the consideration, normally the purchase price, when the transfer is registered. The rates are graduated: each band of the price is taxed at its own rate, so the bill rises faster than the price. Toronto adds a second municipal land transfer tax on top. First-time buyers may claim a rebate, and buyers who are neither citizens nor permanent residents can face an extra non-resident charge. Run your actual price through the province's calculator before closing.

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.

There are three routes: file online yourself through NETFILE certified software, have a preparer transmit it by EFILE, or mail a paper return to your CRA tax centre. Online filing returns a confirmation number straight away, and that number is your proof of filing. For 2025 returns the CRA opened online filing on 23 February 2026 and closes it on 29 January 2027 for its annual changeover; when the system reopens in February 2027 a 2025 return can still be transmitted electronically, because NETFILE and EFILE accept the current tax year plus the three preceding years.

Most returns are transmitted electronically, so nothing is mailed and no receipts are sent in. Keep your slips and receipts for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, and send them only if the CRA asks. If you file on paper, the return goes to the tax centre for your province of residence, listed on the CRA's page for mailing a paper return. Documents the CRA requests can be uploaded through My Account.

Take-out and delivered prepared food is taxable in Ontario, so 13% HST normally applies. Ontario's point-of-sale rebate removes the provincial part on qualifying prepared food and beverages sold under a set dollar limit, leaving only the 5% federal part, which is why a small coffee-and-muffin order can show less tax than a large one. Basic groceries you take home, such as bread, milk and produce, are zero-rated and carry no GST/HST at all.

You need your social insurance number and current address, every income slip you received such as T4, T4A, T5 and T3, and your revenue and expense records if you are self-employed. Add support for deductions and credits: RRSP contributions, tuition, medical expenses, childcare, donations, moving costs and any provincial credit you claim. Bring last year's notice of assessment and your direct deposit details. Most slips can be pulled straight from your CRA account into tax software approved by the CRA.

No. Money you borrow is not income, so a student loan does not go on your return and changes nothing about your tax bill when you receive it or when you repay it. Grants, bursaries and scholarships are different: those arrive on a tax slip and may need to be reported, although full-time students often find the scholarship exemption covers them. The only tax benefit tied to the loan itself is the credit for interest paid on a government student loan.

Three deductions dominate. Income tax, federal and provincial, withheld against the credits you claimed. CPP at 5.95% in 2026 on pensionable pay above the $3,500 exemption up to the $74,600 ceiling, plus CPP2 at 4% on earnings to $85,000. EI at $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings in 2026, to maximum insurable earnings of $68,900. Employers match CPP and pay 1.4 times your EI. Quebec runs its own pension and parental plans.

Salary is taxed at graduated federal and provincial rates, and your employer deducts tax at source on every pay along with CPP or QPP contributions and EI premiums. The withholding is only an estimate built from your pay and your TD1 forms, so a bonus, a second job or a mid-year raise can leave you over or under-withheld until you file. Your T4 reports the year's totals and the return trues up the difference.

OSAP loan money is borrowed, so it is not income and is not reported. Grants arrive on a T4A as scholarship or bursary income, and full-time students in a qualifying program usually see the scholarship exemption reduce that to nil. Report the slip anyway. Once repayment starts, any student loan interest actually charged is a non-refundable credit, not a deduction; no interest has accrued on the federal portion of Canada Student Loans since 1 April 2023, so for OSAP only the Ontario portion counts, and unused amounts carry forward.

The spouse or common-law partner with the lower net income must normally make the claim, even when the other partner paid the bills. The higher-income partner may claim only in defined situations, such as while the lower-income partner is in school full time, in hospital, confined to prison or living apart because of a relationship breakdown. File the child care claim with the return, and keep a receipt from each provider in case the CRA reviews it.