Retained Earnings in Canada: Formula, Tax Treatment and Common Mistakes
Retained earnings are the total profits your corporation has earned since it started, minus all the dividends it has paid out. The formula is: Beginning retained earnings + net income (or − net loss) − dividends = ending retained earnings. Retained earnings aren’t taxed again on their own. The corporation already paid tax on the […]
How to Dissolve a Corporation in BC | The Tax Steps Most Owners Miss
To voluntarily dissolve a BC company, it must first have no assets and no liabilities (or adequate provision for every liability), be up to date on its BC annual reports, and have the dissolution authorized by the shareholders. A director swears an affidavit confirming this, and you file a Dissolution Application with BC Registries. On […]
PD7A Explained: Remitter Types, Due Dates and What Late Really Costs
What a PD7A Is and What CRA Expects You to Do With It A PD7A is the statement CRA sends you for your payroll account. It does two jobs at once: it tells you what CRA has recorded for your remittances so far, and it acts as the remittance voucher for your next payment. The […]
T2200 and T2200S: An Employer’s Guide to Signing
What a T2200 Is and When an Employer Must Sign One Every January a handful of employees ask for “the work from home form.” Here is what you are actually being asked to sign, and what it commits you to. Form T2200, Declaration of Conditions of Employment, is an employer’s certification that an employee was […]
Capital Cost Allowance: Classes, Rates and the Half Year Rule
What Capital Cost Allowance Is and Why You Cannot Just Expense an Asset You bought a $60,000 piece of equipment this year. You cannot deduct $60,000. You deduct a percentage of it each year, and that deduction is called capital cost allowance, or CCA. The quick orientation: Supplies and repairs are deducted in full the […]
Small Business Grants and Funding in BC: What Is Actually Available
What Funding Actually Exists for BC Small Businesses Right Now Let us start with the honest version, because most articles on this topic will not give it to you. There is very little free money for a general small business in BC. There is no program that hands a retail shop or a restaurant $50,000 […]
BC Employer Health Tax: Thresholds, Rates, Instalments and Exemptions
Do You Have to Pay BC Employer Health Tax? The Threshold Test The BC Employer Health Tax is a payroll tax on employers, and the first thing to establish is whether it applies to you at all. If your total BC remuneration for the calendar year is $1,000,000 or less, you pay nothing and you […]
T3 Trust Returns and Bare Trust Reporting: Who Files and Who Is Exempt
Where Bare Trust Reporting Stands for the 2026 Filing Season If you are here because someone told you that being on title to your adult child’s condo makes you a trustee with a filing obligation, here is the current position. For the 2025 tax year, bare trusts did not have to file. CRA confirmed on […]
Your CRA Notice of Assessment, Line by Line
What a Notice of Assessment Is and When You Get One Your notice of assessment, usually just called the NOA, is CRA’s receipt for your tax return. It confirms what CRA decided you owe or are owed, shows any changes CRA made to what you filed, and carries several numbers you will need later in […]
Underused Housing Tax: Do You Still Have to File in 2026?
Is the UHT Still in Force? What Budget 2025 Changed Short answer, because this is what almost everyone is here for: No, you do not file a UHT return for 2025 or any year after that. Budget 2025 eliminated the Underused Housing Tax, and the wording was explicit: no UHT is payable and no returns […]