BC Property Transfer Tax and the First Time Home Buyer Exemption (2026)
What You Will Pay on a $1M Purchase If you buy a $1,000,000 home in BC, your property transfer tax is $18,000, and you pay it at closing, on top of your down payment. It is not part of your mortgage and it is not negotiable with the seller. Here is the short version of […]
Can’t Pay Your CRA Tax Bill? Your Options, Ranked
If you owe CRA money you do not have, the single most useful thing to know is that filing and paying are two separate obligations with two separate penalties. Not paying costs you interest, currently 7% compounded daily. Not filing costs you 5% of the balance immediately plus another 1% every month, on top of […]
TOSI Rules in Canada | Can You Pay Your Spouse or Children?
Before 2018, income splitting with family through a corporation was straightforward. Issue shares to your spouse, declare dividends, cut the household tax bill. Then TOSI arrived, and a lot of structures that had worked for decades stopped working overnight. Here is what still works, what does not, and how to tell which side of the […]
Vacancy Tax in BC | SVT & Empty Homes Tax Explained
Every winter the same thing happens. A letter arrives, or does not arrive, and people assume that because they live in their own home the whole thing does not apply to them. Then a bill shows up for a tax they never owed, on a property they never left empty. Quick Answer: If You […]
Should You Buy a Car Through Your Corporation? The Real Math
Almost every incorporated business owner asks this at some point, usually right before signing something at a dealership. The pitch sounds obvious: the company pays, the company deducts, you drive. Free car, basically. It is not free, and the reason has a name. Our other service: Business Incorporation Services Shareholder Agreement Services Quick Answer: […]
Selling Canadian Property as a Non Resident: Section 116 Clearance Certificates Explained
If you live outside Canada and you are selling a Canadian property, there is one number you need to understand before anything else happens: 25%. Quick Answer: Without a Certificate, 25% of the Gross Price Is Withheld Not 25% of your profit. Twenty five percent of the entire sale price. Sell a $1.2 million […]
Financial Due Diligence Before Buying a Small Business in BC
Someone has shown you a business, a price, and a set of numbers that look pretty good. Now you have to work out whether those numbers are real, whether the profit will survive your ownership, and what liabilities come along for the ride. That is due diligence. Here is how to do the financial half […]
Do You Need a Shareholder Agreement in BC
You incorporated with a friend, a sibling, or a colleague. Fifty fifty, handshake, off you go. Business is good. Nobody has ever needed a document to sort anything out. Then one of you wants out, or gets sick, or gets divorced, or dies. And the thing you never wrote down becomes the only thing that […]
Best Accounting Software for Canadian Small Businesses (2026 Comparison)
Most software comparison articles you will find are written for American businesses, which is a problem, because the thing that actually breaks accounting software in Canada is sales tax. GST, HST, and provincial sales taxes that behave completely differently from each other. BC PST in particular is where a lot of otherwise excellent software falls […]
Shareholder Loans in Canada | The One Year Rule and How to Avoid a Surprise Tax Bill
You needed money. The corporation had money. You moved it, your bookkeeper posted it to “Due from shareholder,” and everyone went back to work. That entry is a loan, and there is a clock on it. Repay Before the End of the Next Fiscal Year, or the Whole Balance Becomes Your Income Under subsection […]