Expert Tax Accountants in Guelph

Sales tax in Ontario is 13% HST for 2026, made up of the 5% federal GST and an 8% provincial share, and it has applied at that rate since 1 July 2010. There is no separate Ontario retail sales tax on top, and the CRA administers the whole 13%. Basic groceries and prescription drugs are zero-rated, so they carry nothing. Income tax is a separate calculation with its own federal and Ontario brackets.

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.

The Ontario HST rate is 13% for 2026, and it has been 13% since 1 July 2010. That single rate carries a 5% federal component and an 8% Ontario component, and the CRA collects and administers all of it. Place-of-supply rules decide which province's rate applies, so goods delivered in Ontario take 13% and a delivery into Nova Scotia takes 14%. Basic groceries are zero-rated at 0%, while exempt supplies such as most long-term residential rent carry no HST and no input tax recovery.

Three different calculations go by that name. For sales tax, multiply the price by the harmonised rate that applies to the province of supply. For income tax, apply the federal brackets and then the Ontario brackets to taxable income and subtract your credits. For payroll, the CRA payroll deductions calculator handles income tax withholding along with CPP and EI for each pay period. Look up the rates and brackets published for the year you are calculating, since they change annually.

Ontario's sales tax is 13% HST, the figure on almost every receipt. Income tax is layered: federal brackets for 2026 start at 14% and climb through 20.5%, 26% and 29% to 33%, with Ontario's own bracket rates and surtax added on top, so your combined marginal rate is higher than either government's alone. Corporations face an Ontario combined general rate of 26.5%, and a provincial small business rate of 3.2% that drops to 2.2% from 1 July 2026.

Withhold three things from each pay: income tax, CPP and EI. For 2026, CPP is 5.95% from the employee and 5.95% from the employer on pensionable earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and the $74,600 ceiling, plus CPP2 at 4% up to $85,000. EI is $1.63 per $100 of insurable earnings for the employee, and the employer pays 1.4 times that. Use the CRA payroll deductions online calculator, then remit by your assigned due date.

Yes. Tips are income whether they arrive as cash, on a card or through an app. Card tips normally pass through the employer, so they are usually controlled tips: run through payroll, subject to deductions and included on your T4. Tips customers hand you and you keep are direct tips, still taxable, but reported by you because no slip shows them. Keep a daily record either way, since the CRA can ask you to support the amount.

No. Canada has no income tax exemption based on disability status. Relief comes through the disability tax credit, which reduces tax payable for someone with a severe and prolonged impairment once a medical practitioner certifies the impairment and the CRA approves the claim. Unused credit can often be transferred to a supporting spouse or parent, and approval also opens access to other programs. Check the CRA's disability tax credit pages for the current amounts and the certification steps.

Ontario auto insurance premiums carry no HST, because insurance is an exempt financial service rather than a taxable supply. Ontario has no PST; it does levy its own retail sales tax on certain premiums, mainly group life and health plans and some benefit-plan contributions, and automobile insurance premiums are not among them. That premium tax is not recoverable the way an input tax credit is. Confirm current details on the Ontario Ministry of Finance insurance premium page.

No. The Canada child benefit is not taxable, so you do not report it on your T1 and it does not add to your taxable income. It is still calculated from your adjusted family net income, which means you and your spouse or common-law partner both have to file every year to keep payments flowing. Lenders, landlords and some provincial programs may count the benefit when they look at household income, even though the CRA does not.

Every province and territory sets its own income tax brackets, rates and credits, and they apply on top of the federal brackets to produce your combined marginal rate. Alberta uses fewer bands than British Columbia, for example, and most jurisdictions index their thresholds each year. Your province of residence on 31 December decides which table applies to the whole year, so look up that province's schedule for the year you are filing rather than a national figure.

Yes. Interest paid on a loan under a federal or provincial student loans programme gives a non-refundable credit, and any part you cannot use in the year you paid it can be carried forward and claimed in a later year, within the carry-forward window the CRA sets out. Only the student who took the loan can claim it; it cannot be transferred to a parent or spouse. Interest on a bank line of credit does not qualify.