How much CPP do I pay if I am self-employed?
Both halves, which is 11.9% rather than 5.95%, topping out at $8,460.90 in 2026. Here are the current rates and ceilings, and why the bill surprises people.
The CRA assessed me and I disagree. What now?
An individual usually has about a year to object. A corporation has ninety days from a letter. Here is the window, the required content, and what the Minister must then do.
Does a corporation with no activity still have to file a T2?
Yes. The filing trigger is residence, not income. And the year you skip is the one that stays open indefinitely, because the reassessment clock starts at assessment.
How far back can the CRA reassess my return?
Three years for most taxpayers and four for some corporations, counted from a date that is not the one most people assume. And a reopened year is not reopened at large.
When is my personal tax return due, and what does filing late cost?
April 30 for most people, with a penalty of 5% of the unpaid balance plus 1% a month for up to a year, and double that for a repeat. The base is the balance unpaid at the deadline.
Why do I get until June 15 to file but still owe on April 30?
Carrying on a business moves your filing date to June 15 but leaves your payment date at April 30. The two dates come from different provisions, and only one of them moves.
What is the small business deduction, and who actually gets it?
A 19% reduction on the least of three figures, one of which is a $500,000 limit that defaults to nil the moment you are associated with another CCPC.
What can a CRA auditor actually ask for?
The inspection powers are broader than most owners expect, the dwelling-house limit is narrower than they hope, and the duty to assist is a legal obligation rather than a courtesy.
When does the CRA treat my corporations as associated?
Five tests, a 25% equity threshold, and a definition of control that reaches influence rather than votes. Getting it wrong costs the whole group its small business deduction.
When is a T2 due, and when is the tax actually due?
Six months to file, but two months to pay, or three if the corporation qualifies. The money is due months before the return that calculates it.
What software does a one-person business actually need?
Running alone changes the maths. You are the only point of failure, so the right software is the software that reduces what you have to remember — not the software with the most features.
Can I connect my business tools without a developer?
Native connections, automation platforms and shared identity all work without code. Each has a failure mode worth understanding before you wire your business together with them.
Does a small business need a CRM?
A spreadsheet is a legitimate CRM until three things break it. Here are the thresholds that make a real system worth buying, the privacy obligations that come with it either way, and how to migrate without losing history.
How do I get staff to actually use new business software?
Training is rarely the bottleneck. The three real causes of failed adoption are a surviving old path, a rollout that added work instead of removing it, and no visible decision from the owner.
How many software subscriptions does a small business actually need?
Six subscriptions covers most Canadian businesses under ten people. Here is the working list, the four questions that justify a seventh, and why the count matters less than how many places your customer list lives.
How do I choose business software in Canada?
Most software buying advice is written for companies with a procurement department. Here is a version for a business of three to twenty people, with the Canadian-specific checks included.
Can I use one login across all my business tools?
Single sign-on, a password manager, and sign-in-with-a-provider look the same to a user and behave very differently when something goes wrong. Here is how to choose, and how to survive an employee leaving.
How do I switch business software without downtime?
A migration goes wrong at the cutover, not the export. Here is the parallel-running sequence, the order to move data in, the rollback point, and the Canadian obligations that follow your records across.
What happens to my data if my software provider shuts down?
Shutdowns, acquisitions and quiet product discontinuations all end the same way: a window to get your data out. Here is how to make sure you can, and what you still owe your customers while it happens.
What should a small business automate first?
The first thing to automate is not the thing you hate most. It is the repeated, rule-based task a customer is currently waiting on. Here is the ranking test, the correct order, and the jobs that should stay human.
When should a small business move off spreadsheets?
A spreadsheet is a good tool with three specific failure modes: concurrent editing, silent errors, and no memory of who changed what. Here is how to recognise each one and what to move first.
Who owns my data in business software?
Most contracts say you own your data. That sentence matters less than whether you can get the data out, who else can read it, and who answers when a customer asks what you hold. Here is how to check all three.
What can AI actually do for a small business?
AI does a handful of specific jobs well and is oversold on the rest. The four jobs worth paying for, the questions that expose a weak claim, and the Canadian rules that apply the moment AI touches a customer.
What does "Canadian-hosted" actually mean for business software?
PIPEDA does not require you to keep data in Canada, and the Privacy Commissioner says so plainly. Here is what Canadian hosting genuinely buys you, what it does not, and how to test a vendor's claim in about five minutes.
What does PIPEDA actually require of a small business?
Ten principles, one reasonableness test, and a breach regime with two rules almost everyone misstates. What the Act asks of a business with nine employees and no privacy officer.
How do I audit my business software subscriptions?
Cancelling a subscription does not end your obligations to the data or the records inside it. A step-by-step audit that finds the overlap and the orphans, and a cancellation checklist that keeps you out of trouble.
Suite or best-of-breed: which actually costs less?
Comparing monthly fees is the easy part and the wrong part. The costs that decide this are integration work nobody has time for, a compliance obligation that multiplies per vendor, and what happens to six years of records when a tool shuts down.
What is MapleWorkSuite?
One account, one Canadian bill, and thirty-odd apps you turn on one at a time. What the suite actually is, which businesses it fits, and the cases where a single specialist tool is still the better buy.
What order should I pay off business debts in?
Two defensible methods give different answers, and the right one depends on whether your constraint is arithmetic or motivation. Plus the cash-flow reason both can be wrong.
What should I do when the CRA asks for documentation?
A request for records is not an accusation, and the response is mostly logistics. Here is what is usually being asked for, how long you have, and why the gathering is the hard part.
How do I get my GST/HST numbers out of a pile of receipts?
Claiming input tax credits needs specific information on the receipt, and how much depends on the size of the sale. Here is what has to be there, and what to do when it is not.
What can I actually learn from a year of business receipts?
Categorised spending answers questions you cannot answer from a bank balance: which costs move with revenue, which are fixed, and which grew without anyone deciding they should.
How do I find every subscription my business is paying for?
Recurring charges hide because they are small, annual, or named nothing like the service. Here is how to surface them from receipts and bank records you already have, and which ones are genuinely worth cancelling.
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