Expert Tax Accountants in Charlottetown

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.

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.

Paper returns go to the CRA tax centre that serves your province or territory of residence, not to one national address. The correct address is printed in the paper return package and listed on canada.ca under mailing addresses for individual returns, and it differs for non-residents and for business returns. Filing electronically is much faster: for the 2025 tax year the CRA aims to issue a refund on an online return in about two weeks, against a considerably longer standard on paper.

A balance owing means the tax withheld or paid by instalments during the year came to less than the tax your return calculates. Common causes are two employers each withholding as though theirs was your only job, self-employment or gig income with nothing withheld, investment or rental income, an RRSP or RRIF withdrawal where only the base amount was held back, pension and OAS payments taken without deductions, or a benefit you have to repay.

Report the amount shown on the slip from the school or granting body, then claim the scholarship exemption. For a student enrolled in a program that qualifies for the full-time education amount, scholarships, fellowships and bursaries connected to that program are usually fully exempt, so nothing remains in taxable income. Part-time students get a narrower exemption, and research grants are handled separately, net of eligible expenses. Check the CRA's page on scholarships, fellowships and bursaries for the year involved.

No. A refund happens only when the tax withheld on your slips plus any instalments you paid exceed the tax you actually owe for the year. Employees often see refunds because payroll withholding ignores claims like RRSP contributions, tuition or medical expenses. People with self-employment, investment or several pension incomes frequently owe instead, because little or nothing was withheld. Filing settles the difference either way, and it is also what keeps benefit payments flowing.

Yes, and it is usually worth doing. Filing with little or no income keeps benefits flowing, because the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit and provincial credits are all recalculated from a filed return. It also lets you carry forward tuition and other unused amounts. Report EI benefits, severance and any RRSP withdrawals: those slips are income even in a year you were not working. New RRSP room needs earned income.

Usually a tax preparer, tax accountant, or bookkeeper, depending on what they actually do. In Canada no single licence is required to prepare someone else's return, so the titles vary widely and are worth asking about. To transmit your return electronically a preparer needs an EFILE number from the CRA, and to discuss your file with the CRA they must be authorised as your representative, either through My Account or with an AUT-01. Confirm the scope and the fee before work starts.

CRA My Account holds the slips payers filed under your name, your notices of assessment, RRSP and TFSA room, benefit payments and instalment history. Slips such as T4, T4A and T5 generally appear there by late winter for the previous year. Employers and financial institutions also send copies directly. If a slip never arrives, report the income from your own records rather than waiting, and adjust later if the slip differs.

Usually as a capital gain: proceeds less your cost and selling costs, with one-half of the gain included in income for 2025 and 2026. A home that qualifies as your principal residence can be exempt for the years it qualifies, but the sale is still reported on your return. Property bought to resell, or sold within a short holding period, can instead be taxed as fully taxable business income. Depreciation claimed on a rental is recaptured.

Land valuation is the assessed value that a provincial or municipal assessment body assigns to a property, normally based on what it would have sold for on a set valuation date. Your municipality multiplies that assessment by its own tax rate to produce the property tax bill, so the valuation drives the bill rather than being a tax itself. Assessments can usually be appealed within a fixed window. Assessed value is not the cost figure used to work out a capital gain on sale.

Work in order. Total your employment income, subtract deductions such as registered pension or union dues to reach taxable income, then apply the federal rate ladder to each slice of that income and repeat with your province's brackets. Subtract non-refundable credits, starting with the federal basic personal amount of $16,452 for 2026, which tapers at higher incomes. CPP and EI are separate withholdings, not income tax. The CRA's rates and brackets page lists the current slices.