Personal tax returns for Courtenay owners and families

Personal tax is quoted as a fixed fee before work starts, and the fee covers questions through the year. If you own a company, the T1 is prepared alongside the corporate return so owner pay is decided once. Published fees are on the pricing page.

Owners across Courtenay’s main industries

Much of our Comox Valley T1 work is for people who own or work in one of the valley’s core sectors. Each brings its own personal-tax pattern.

• Contractors: sole proprietors with T5018 income to reconcile, or incorporated owners paid by salary and dividend.
• Trades: a work van on the T2125, tools through CCA, and apprentices moving to self-employment.
• Restaurant owners and staff: tips, seasonal income and the owner’s draw.
• Farmers and growers: farm income on the T1, the cash method, direct sales and losses.
• Realtors: commission with nothing withheld, GST and instalments.

When your company pays you

An incorporated owner’s T1 depends on decisions made in the company. Salary arrives on a T4, builds RRSP room and carries CPP. Dividends arrive on a T5, with a gross-up and a dividend tax credit that make the taxable amount larger than the cash. The right blend depends on the year’s profit, your other income and what you want to put into an RRSP. We prepare both returns, so the choice is made with the whole picture. The salary vs dividends calculator shows the trade-off.

If the company paid personal costs during the year, the shareholder loan account needs clearing before year-end. A balance left too long can end up taxed as your income, which is the most avoidable surprise on an owner’s return.

Family members are part of the same picture. A spouse or adult child who genuinely works in the business can be paid a reasonable salary for that work. Dividends to family members who do not work in it can fall under the tax on split income. We look at each person’s return together, so the household result is what gets planned.

Self-employed, and the T2125

A sole proprietor reports business income on form T2125 inside the T1. Every deductible cost needs a record: fuel and vehicle costs split by a log, tools, phone, home office and supplies. Equipment is claimed through CCA rather than expensed. Self-employed Courtenay residents also pay both halves of CPP on their net earnings, which surprises people in their first year.

Once net tax owing passes $3,000 in the current year and either of the two previous years, the CRA expects instalments on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. The tax instalment calculator estimates them. Our self-employed tax return page sets out what we need.

GST is the other first-year trap. A sole proprietor must register once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, and the GST return then runs on its own calendar. A sole proprietor with a December year-end files the annual GST return by June 15 but pays by April 30, the same split as the T1. Registering a little early can make sense when you buy equipment, because input tax credits then recover the GST you paid.

Suites, short-term rentals and second properties

A basement suite, a rental house elsewhere in town or a cabin near Cumberland is reported on form T776. Rent is income. Mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, repairs and utilities you pay are generally deductible against it. Improvements that last are capital and go through CCA, which also needs care because claiming it can produce recapture when you sell. Current versus capital expenses explains the line.

Short-term rentals need extra thought. The City of Courtenay requires a business licence for a short-term rental and provincial registration as well, and only an owner who lives on the property as a principal residence can operate one. That means the rental shares a property with your home, so expenses are split by area and time, and the principal residence exemption needs protecting when the house is eventually sold. Nightly income above the small-supplier threshold can also raise GST questions, which we check rather than assume.

Postings, moves and the household that comes with them

19 Wing Comox, the only Canadian Air Force base on the west coast, is part of the community, and military households tend to arrive and leave on the timetable of a posting. People who move to the valley for other work, including at the North Island Hospital Comox Valley campus in Courtenay, often face the same first-year questions. A posting can mean selling one house and buying another in the same year, renting out a home rather than selling it, or a spouse starting a small business in a new town. Each of those changes the return: rental income on a T776, a home that stops being a principal residence for some years, or a first T2125. We work through the year with the full set of facts rather than one slip at a time.

Retirees and pension income

Returns for retirees are where small elections matter. Eligible pension income can be split with a spouse, which can lower the combined tax and protect OAS. RRIF withdrawals, the timing of CPP and OAS, and medical expenses claimed in the right twelve-month window all change the result. Pension income splitting and OAS clawback planning cover the main moves.

Remote, and there is no Courtenay office

EverStone is a one-CPA firm that works online. Slips and receipts come in through a secure upload link, CRA slips are pulled directly once you authorize us, and the return is signed online. Questions go by email first, with a video meeting when one helps. You never need to drive anywhere, and the CPA who prepares your return is the one who answers the follow-up from the CRA.

Business owners usually pair this page with corporate tax in Courtenay or bookkeeping in Courtenay.