The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) asks for tax installments when you establish a tendency to owe tax at the end of the year. But sometimes life gets in the way, income is low or expenses are high, and you don’t get around to paying the tax installments requested by CRA. So what happens if you [...]
Q: I’m a plumber earning less than $30,000 per year. In order to bid on jobs I found I needed to have a GST-HST number, so I registered two years ago. But since then, I haven’t earned over $30,000 per year. Do I still have to charge GST-HST? Do I have to file returns? A: [...]
If you've registered to collect the goods and services or harmonized sales tax (GST-HST) in Canada, you may have come across the term input tax credit or its acronym, ITC, and wondered what it's all about. To understand input tax credits (ITCs) you need to understand the basics of the GST-HST system, which are simply: [...]
As CRA continues on its mission to minimize paper and make more services available online, it becomes increasingly important to register for My Business Account with Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and learn how to use it. To make it easier, CRA has created a video explaining how to register for My Business Account. With My [...]
For the 2020 and 2021 tax years, Canadians were allowed a special Work-From-Home credit for time spent working from home during the Covid-19 pandemic. The credit can be calculated two ways: using a flat rate, or doing a calculation involving a percentage of utilities and/or rent costs. The flat rate requires no additional documentation. Any [...]
So it’s RRSP season again, and you’re trying to decide how much (if anything) to contribute this year. This is especially a question if you didn’t end up earning much. Here are the top three things you need to know about RRSPs in a low-income year. 1. RRSPs are less helpful to people with low [...]
Q: After a few years of low income, I'm finally ready to start contributing to my RRSP again. But looking at my Notice of Assessment I completely forget what the RRSP numbers mean. My notice from last year's taxes gives me the following: RRSP deduction limit: $15,000 Unused contributions previously reported & available to deduct: [...]
Your tax residence is the jurisdiction (country) whose tax laws you primarily abide by and (usually) where you pay the most tax. Since the tax laws vary so much from one country to the next, the question of which country you reside in for tax purposes can be vital to your financial picture. But determining [...]
Question: I am planning to move to Canada next year. What do I need to know about my Canadian tax obligations when I enter? Answer: If you are just entering Canada next year, there’s really nothing you need to do in terms of taxes here right away. However it's best to familiarize yourself with the [...]
If you're located outside the US and doing work for (or being paid by) a US-based company, you may be asked to provide something called an W8BEN form. This could happen if you are: Working freelance for a US company Selling ebooks through a US seller, e.g., Amazon In a situation where a US entity [...]
