Expert Tax Accountants in Montreal

HST combines the 5% federal GST with a provincial component in five participating provinces. For 2026 the combined rates are 13% in Ontario, 15% in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island, and 14% in Nova Scotia since 1 April 2025. Elsewhere you charge the 5% GST alone, or GST plus a separate provincial tax. The rate follows the province of supply, not where your business sits.

Rent on your home is not deductible on a Canadian return. Two situations change that. Self-employed people, and employees who meet the work-space-in-the-home conditions, may claim the share of rent tied to the area used for work. Several provinces also run a property tax or rent based credit, applied for on the provincial schedule filed with your T1, where rent paid affects the amount. Keep receipts and your landlord's details either way.

Pay through your bank's online banking by adding the CRA as a payee and choosing the right account and year, through My Payment with a debit card, by pre-authorised debit scheduled in My Account, by credit card through a third-party provider that charges its own fee, or at a bank counter with a remittance voucher. For 2025 personal returns the payment deadline was 30 April 2026, including for the self-employed, and interest runs daily on anything unpaid after that.

Every current and past federal form, plus the full income tax and benefit package for your province, sits on the CRA pages at canada.ca, free to download and print. Signed-in users can also see the slips filed under their SIN, such as T4 and T5 information, inside CRA My Account. The CRA will mail a printed package on request by phone. Certified tax software fills the forms for you, so most filers never open a blank one.

Pay it the same way you remit payroll source deductions, using your payroll program account number so the money lands on the right account. Options are online banking through your bank's CRA payment option, My Business Account or the CRA's online payment service, pre-authorized debit, or a payment at a Canadian financial institution. Interest keeps accruing until the balance is cleared, so pay first and dispute afterwards if you plan to object.

Claim everything you are entitled to, and file on time. Gather every slip and receipt, use My Account to confirm the CRA holds the same slips you do, and claim RRSP contributions, tuition, medical expenses, child care, moving costs and employment expenses where they apply. Couples should compare who claims transferable credits and pooled expenses. If you are self-employed, deduct real business costs on the T2125. Contributing to an RRSP or FHSA before the deadline reduces taxable income directly.

You can ask, but no employer has to issue it before the CRA's annual slip deadline shortly after year end, and payroll often cannot finalise the numbers until then. If you need figures sooner, use your last pay statement of the year for gross pay, income tax, CPP and EI to date. Slips also appear in CRA My Account once the employer files them. Filing from an estimate invites a reassessment later, so wait for the slip.

Yes, but the payments stop until your return is assessed. The credit is calculated from the filed return, so a missing year pauses the quarterly deposits; once the return is processed the CRA recalculates and normally pays the missed quarters retroactively. Several prior years can be picked up if you catch up on old returns. File even with no income, and keep your address and marital status current, because both change the amount.

Income tax always comes off. The rest turns on the type of payment: pay in lieu of notice and vacation pay are employment income, so CPP and EI are deducted as usual. A retiring allowance is neither pensionable nor insurable, so no CPP or EI is withheld and only income tax is, at lump-sum withholding rates. Amounts transferred directly to an RRSP within the eligible limit can avoid withholding. See the CRA's payroll guide on retiring allowances.

A new assessed value or municipal rate applies for the tax year the municipality sets it for, not from the day you receive the notice. Provincial assessment bodies value properties as at a fixed valuation date and phase increases in over a cycle, then councils set the annual rates, which appear on the final bill rather than the interim one. A reassessment after a renovation or a change in use can be billed back to its effective date.

For account-specific questions, the CRA will discuss your own file once you have verified your identity, and its individual and business enquiry lines cover balances, slips and deadlines. For advice on what to claim or how to structure something, speak to a tax preparer. If you want the filing handled for you, taxfilings.ca agrees a fixed fee before any work starts, and you pay after the service. Call +1 (416) 619-0068.

No. The QST is calculated on the selling price before GST, not on the GST-included amount, so for 2026 the 5% GST and the 9.975% QST each apply to the same pre-tax figure, giving 14.975% in total. Quebec did once apply QST to the GST-included price, which is why older invoices and calculators show a slightly different effective rate; Revenu Quebec's basic rules for the GST and QST page sets out the current base.