Personal tax accountant in St. Catharines

Dividends and salary from the family company

Many Niagara households are paid by their own corporation, such as a winery, contractor or shop. Salary comes on a T4 and dividends on a T5, both by the last day of February. We prepare the T1 and the corporate return together, because the salary-dividend mix, set before the corporate year closes, changes RRSP room, CPP, childcare deductions and the tax on each dollar.

Where adult family members receive dividends, the rules on tax on split income decide whether those dividends are taxed at their rates or at the top rate. Tax on split income explains the exclusions that matter for a family business.

Self-employed in the Niagara Region

A sole proprietor reports the business on form T2125 in the personal return. In Niagara that ranges from a tradesperson working for local builders to a tour guide, a patio musician or a home-based consultant in Lincoln. The return must separate business from personal use of the vehicle, home and phone, with records kept six years.

Once taxable sales pass $30,000 in four consecutive calendar quarters, HST registration becomes mandatory, and many sole proprietors cross it without noticing. We check that as part of the return. The self-employed return sets out what we need from you.

Rental units and tourist rentals

A basement suite, a duplex or a cottage rented to visitors is reported on the personal return, with income and expenses on its own schedule. The line between repairs, which are deducted, and improvements, which are added to the cost and depreciated, is where most rental returns go wrong. Current versus capital expenses walks through it.

Short-term rentals to tourists differ from long-term tenancies. A residential lease is HST-exempt, but short-term accommodation can be taxable, and registration is mandatory once those sales pass $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. With summer crowds at the Falls and on the wine route, check before your second season. See rental income returns.

Retirement income and splitting it

Pension income, RRIF withdrawals, CPP and OAS arrive on slips; the planning is in how spouses share them. Splitting eligible pension income can lower combined tax and keep one spouse below the OAS clawback, and the election can change each year. Pension income splitting and OAS clawback planning cover both.

Owners selling a business or farm to retire have larger questions again: the lifetime capital gains exemption on qualifying shares or farm property, and how the proceeds are received. Those decisions belong well before the sale closes.

Instalments and the reminder that arrives in February

If your net tax owing is more than $3,000 in the current year and in either of the two previous years, the CRA expects quarterly instalments on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. Retirees with pension income that has no tax withheld, landlords and self-employed people meet this most often. The CRA’s reminder offers a suggested amount, which is safe but not always the lowest. We compare it with a projection of this year and tell you which to follow. The instalment calculator shows the options.

Farm families and the land they hold

Around St. Catharines, Lincoln and Niagara-on-the-Lake, a good number of households own orchard land, a vineyard or a greenhouse operation directly rather than through a company. Farming income reported on a personal return can use the cash method, which gives real control over which year income and expenses land in. Farm losses follow their own rules where farming is not the main source of income, so a hobby vineyard beside a full-time job is treated differently from a working farm.

Farm land is often the largest family asset. Qualified farm property can qualify for the lifetime capital gains exemption and pass to a child under the intergenerational rollover rules, both depending on years of use and ownership, so planning starts early. Farm accounting in St. Catharines covers the operating side.

When the CRA asks a question

Review letters, reassessments and requests for information are ordinary; most are settled with the right documents and a short note. We handle them through our CRA authorization, so you are not on hold. To dispute an assessment, file a notice of objection within 90 days of the notice of assessment. See what a T1 review letter means and filing a notice of objection.

Remote personal tax

EverStone is a fully virtual CPA firm serving St. Catharines online. There is no St. Catharines office and no local staff. Meetings run by video or phone, slips and receipts arrive by secure upload link, the return is signed electronically, and no visit is needed.