A CRA audit is the agency checking the numbers on your return against the records behind them. Here's how files get flagged, how far back the CRA can reassess, what an auditor looks at, what it costs to get wrong, and how to be ready before the call comes.
The notice of assessment is the CRA's confirmation of how it read your return. Here's what every section means, when it arrives, how it differs from a reassessment, and what a self-employed filer should check before filing it away.
Canada runs three sales taxes at once: the 5% federal GST, a harmonized HST of 13% to 15%, and separate provincial taxes. Here are the 2026 rates for all 13 provinces and territories, the place-of-supply rule that sets which one you charge, and the Nova Scotia cut stale tables miss.
The small business tax rate is a corporate rate, not one every small business pays. Here's the 9% federal deduction, the 2026 provincial rates, who counts as a Canadian-controlled private corporation, and why a sole proprietor never sees this rate.
The best receipt scanner app depends on whether you want receipts alone or receipts, expenses and income in one place, and on whether the records survive a CRA review. Seven apps built for business expenses compared, each with a real strength and one honest limitation.
Filing a GST/HST return means reporting the tax you collected, subtracting the tax you paid on business purchases, and remitting the difference. Here is the return line by line, the reporting periods and deadlines, a worked example, and the instalment rule that catches annual filers.
The T5018 Statement of Contract Payments is how the CRA tracks money that moves between construction businesses and their subcontractors. Here is who has to file one, the $500 threshold and what it excludes, when the return is due, the penalty for filing late, and how to report a T5018 you receive.
A T4A slip is the CRA's Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity, and Other Income. Here is what a T4A is, how it differs from a T4 and a T5018, what each box means, when a payer has to send one, and how a self-employed recipient reports box 048 fees for services on Form T2125.
As a sole proprietor you pay both the employee and employer share of CPP: 11.9% on net income between $3,500 and $74,600 in 2026, plus 8% CPP2 above that. Here are the 2026 rates and ceilings, two worked examples, and the deduction-versus-credit split most guides skip.
A business number is the unique nine-digit number the Canada Revenue Agency uses to identify your business. Here is how program accounts attach to it, when a sole proprietor needs one, how it differs from a corporation number and your SIN, and how to find an existing BN.
If you owe more than $3,000 in tax the CRA wants it in quarterly instalments, not one lump sum at filing. Here is the who-pays test, the four due dates, the three calculation options walked as worked examples, and how instalment interest and the 50% penalty are charged.
A sole proprietorship and a corporation are taxed in completely different ways, and incorporating doesn't automatically cut your tax bill. Here's the same $150,000 of profit run both ways, the small-business rate and tax deferral explained, the non-tax trade-offs, and how to decide.
