Tax tips and answers for business owners

Anyone in Canada can call themselves an accountant. A Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) has completed the CPA education, exam and experience requirements and is a member of a provincial regulator, which in Ontario is CPA Ontario. CPAs follow a code of professional conduct, complete continuing education every year, and firms that serve the public are subject to practice inspection. For you, that means your statements and returns are prepared to professional standards by someone accountable for them.

It depends mostly on how many transactions you have, whether you’re incorporated, whether you run payroll and what shape your records are in. A sole proprietor with a few hundred transactions a year costs far less than a corporation with staff and monthly HST. Our fixed monthly packages start from $349 a month plus HST, and you get a written quote after a free consultation, so you know the cost before any work starts.

A bookkeeper records your transactions. A CPA can also prepare financial statements for your bank, file your corporate tax return, plan how you pay yourself and represent you with CRA. Many businesses need both. We provide both, so the books are kept the way your year-end and tax return need them.

Your most recent tax returns and notices of assessment, last year’s financial statements if you have them, recent bank and credit card statements, and your questions. If you’re switching accountants, bring your previous accountant’s contact details and we’ll request the files.

A T2 corporate return is due six months after the corporation’s year-end. Any tax owing is due sooner: two months after year-end, or three months for many Canadian-controlled private corporations that claim the small business deduction. Filing on time but paying late still costs interest.

If you (or your spouse or common-law partner) earned self-employment income, the filing deadline is June 15. Any balance owing is still due April 30, and interest starts after that date.

Once your taxable sales pass $30,000 in a single calendar quarter or over the last four consecutive calendar quarters, you’re no longer a small supplier and must register. Some businesses register earlier by choice so they can recover the HST they pay on expenses.

Most small employers are regular remitters: source deductions are due to CRA by the 15th of the month after you pay employees. T4 slips and the T4 summary are due by the last day of February.

Incorporating usually pays off when your business earns more than you need to live on, because profit left in the company is taxed at a much lower rate than personal income. It also adds cost and paperwork. We look at your income, plans and family situation and show you the numbers before you decide.

Salary is deductible to the company, creates RRSP room and builds CPP. Dividends are simpler and avoid payroll, but create no RRSP room. Many owners use a mix. The right answer depends on your income needs, retirement plans and what the company earns, so we model it each year.

It’s the lower tax rate on the first $500,000 of active business income earned by a Canadian-controlled private corporation. In Ontario the combined federal and provincial rate on that income has been 11.2% since July 1, 2026 (it was 12.2%; tax years that straddle that date get a blended rate). The $500,000 is shared among associated companies, and it shrinks when the group earned more than $50,000 of passive investment income in the previous year.

Find the response deadline, then call us before you reply. Most letters are routine requests for receipts or information, but how you answer matters. Once you authorize us, we can see your CRA accounts and deal with the officer directly.

Generally six years from the end of the last tax year the records relate to. Keep them longer if you’ve filed an objection or CRA is reviewing that year.

For individuals and Canadian-controlled private corporations, CRA can normally reassess within three years of the original notice of assessment (four years for other corporations). There’s no time limit where a misrepresentation came from carelessness, neglect or wilful default, or where there was fraud.

Yes, and we take care of the transfer. With your written permission we request your prior-year statements, returns, working papers and QuickBooks file from your previous accountant, get authorized with CRA and pick up from the last completed period. It’s included with every package, and you don’t need to have an awkward conversation yourself.

Yes. Our office is in North York, but we work with clients across Toronto and the GTA, and much of the work can be done by phone, email and secure file sharing. You’re welcome to meet at the office whenever you prefer.

We work in QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop. If your books are kept somewhere else, or not kept at all, we can work from bank statements, receipts and sales reports.