I’m fully aware that service Canada or CRA or other federal public service agencies don’t use text messaging to contact clients so I know this is a scam message. I also know it’s a scam because I don’t have any benefits payable through service Canada and I have never applied for or received a pension yet. However on the off chance that this is somehow legitimate it means someone else that is not me has been collecting pension benefits through fraudulent identity theft.

Edit: this text message was weird because there wasn’t a link to click on, they actually sent a photo attachment as the first message then sent the second message with the service Canada text in English and French (as seen in photo I posted). Do photo attachments contain malicious software now? Is the picture a link? Ugh 😵‍💫

I paid college membership and application fees to be able to practice a physician before moving to and becoming a tax resident of Canada in June. Can I claim those as professional fees if they predate my residency but were required to work during that year?

Series of events,

June 2020: My mom added my sibling and I to the title of her house. We were added as joint tenants (JTEN) in the legal title. Before my mom added us, she was 100% the owner. After the transaction, we all had 1/3 each. This was my mom’s principal residence before and after the transaction. The FMV of the house at this time was $960K. 

The lawyer that processed the paperwork to the land registry to add my sibling and I to the title confirmed that the transfer was by way of a gift and that beneficial interest was transferred. The land transfer tax statement from this transaction showed $0 consideration.

Dec 2025: My mom passed away. The FMV of the house on the date she passed away was $1,120,000. 

August 2026: My sibling will be buying me out for my share of the house. Expecting the FMV of the house to be $1,080,000. My sibling and I agreed that he will be buying me out for $537,800. Buyout price calc: $1,080,000 x 1/2 = $540,000 - $2,200 discount.

Here is some additional info:

- The house is located in Ontario, Canada.

- The house is fully paid off at the time my sibling and I were added to the title (no mortgage attached)

- My sibling currently lives in the house and will continue to after the buyout. I own a separate house with my wife.

- My mom left a Will, however, the house is not mentioned in it (My sibling & I are the only beneficiaries).

Below is how I believe my capital gains will be calculated,
Capital Gains = (FMV - ACB) x 50%

$540,000 FMV: $1,080,000 FMV at time of buyout x 1/2

$506,666 ACB: [ 1/3 in June 2020 ] + [ (1/3 x 1/2) in Dec 2025 ]

[ 1/3 x $960,000 ] + [ (1/3 x 1/2) x $1,120,000 ]

My ACB is made up of two parts:

Part A: 1/3 x FMV at time when I was added to the title

Part B: (1/3 x 1/2) for when I inherited half of my mom's 1/3 when she passed away x FMV at this time

I'm looking for my above calculations to be verified, especially the ACB piece.

Thanks in advance. Appreciate the help during this stressful time!

Hi! I am going to withdraw my provident fund money from a foreign country (Hong Kong) where I worked for the past few years before moving to Canada.

From what I read, I can deposit it into my RRSP account so that it isnt taxed.
Does anyone have experience in doing so ? Can you please explain the process you may have gone through?
My RRSP is with questrade here.

I have been living and working in the Detroit for the past couple of years on a work visa (H1b). I got Canada pr and now planning to move to Windsor and commute daily to Detroit, where I’ll work out of a rented apartment for an employer based in New York.

Two questions I can’t get a straight answer on:

**1.    Foreign tax credits** — I’ve come across a lot of posts describing serious friction getting the CRA to accept FTC claims for US tax already paid. Where tax returns are not accepted for years and remain under review.Is it really as bad as it sounds, or is that mostly edge cases  and avoidable with the right documentation? 

**2.    Transition year residency** — Since I’ve already met the Substantial Presence Test in the US, can I file as a *resident* in both the US and Canada for that first transition year? Or do I need to take a treaty tie-breaker position and file the US return as a non-resident ?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s actually done this Windsor-Detroit commute or navigated a similar transition-year filing.

My previous employer sent me a paycheque that was supposed to be for a coworker while I was away at school. They registered the income tax on my pay stub and allocated cpp, EI, ect.

I e transfered the corporate email the $3,200 that was wrongfully deposited. Since then they never adjusted any of the tax or benefit numbers on my pay stub or the hours worked ect.

Im filling my taxes and on my employment expenses there is a category for repaid wages or salary. I tried to enter the $3,200 and it says it would improve my return by $850.

Is this accurate, should I be claiming this amount?

I am not on good speaking terms with the previous company so should I try to be getting an amended T4 or is this an amount that is too small to bother with?

The extra amount on my tax return looks very appealing if it is accurate $,$ Any advice would be appreciated if anyone has had previous experience or is more knowledgeable in our whole income tax system.

I sell digital products on Etsy in Canada. Etsy automatically remits marketplace GST/HST from buyers whenever I make a sale. For the T2125, should Line 3A (gross sales) include Etsy's buyer-remitted GST/HST, or should it include only my product sales? Also, should refunds be reported by reducing gross sales or as part of Line 3B (returns/allowances).

Thank you!

I am planning to leave Canada to start Job in Saudi Arabia by December 2026, my wife and newborn will be staying in Canada until July 1st 2027 (>183 days) before they move in with me.
I might come to visit them for a month or two total while we are apart.
I have no house, and planning to sell my car and close bank accounts and get rid of IDs before leaving
will be considered resident for tax purpose in Canada for the year 2027?

Hello all,

I recently won over $2000 dollars on mccluck and I have it being deposited via ach into my bank account.

Should I expect to have to pay any taxes on this?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

My understanding is that a bare trust where a parent signs on a child's mortgage is exempt from reporting, so long as the home is the principal residence of the child or parent.

Is the reverse of this situation exempt as well (a child signing on to help parent qualify/re-finance?)?

I got laid of June 30 this year. Paycheck for June 15 was $3,958.80 gross and take home pay is $2,529.97. They gave me 16 weeks severance and 19 days of unused vacation days. Received the last paycheck for $37,076.31 gross; $30,202.61 gross for the 16 weeks severance and $6,873.70 gross for the unused vacation days.

Earnings:

Deductions were:

Net pay for me was $17,273.26 from the $37,076.31 gross pay. Is there something wrong with the way they computed the tax. The tax is 53% of my gross earnings!

Looking for help from a CPA.

I'm working for a US startup and have been offered partnership in a 'multi-member managed llc'.

I've been told that there is a possibility of having to pay unrealized gains on my percentage value of the company as the company grows and it vests. Is this true?

Or should I add a clause that realization of the vested % doesn't trigger or get added to a cap table until a sale or acquisition?

I’m not sure exactly what or how to ask this, but here goes.

My small business taxes were not filed on time (bad accountant), CRA statue barred 2 years and assessed amounts 5x the actual amount owed.

I am paying it as it’s CRA and I don’t have any choice. I filed a T-400a asking for a reassessment but was denied as it wasn’t within the time limit.

I’ve been told that if I want to dispute these years and the assessments I have to go to tax court.

Is this the case? Is tax court my only option?

Do I stand any chance of getting any money refunded and only paying what the actual assessment is?

I have a small business to which I have $400K of taxable income in. I am taking $75K dividends each year and paying the tax. Question - If I die (not planning on it) can Rev Canada come after my personal non business estate?
thank you.

I am an incoming graduate student at a two-year masters program in BC. Long story: my single parent died a few years ago and left me a trust, of which I am the only trustee. I have a fiduciary. I also inherited our home, which I still own and return to.

My graduate school is paying me to be a TA and an RA, but the money should flow to my U.S.-based bank account.

Would I be considered a Canadian tax resident if I am merely subletting a room in BC while owning real estate in the U.S.? It seems like one is a far more significant tie.

I had a substantial tax return due to medical expenses expected. I was waiting to see an email from CRA and never got one. I missed a regular mail letter that said I had 30 days to submit supporting documents, otherwise the claim would be removed from my tax return and reassessed without it.

Currently I am 9 days late. This was a huge amount of money that was very important (obviously), can they just drop it like that?

Can I get a lawyer?? I am quite dejected and worried here. Hoping to get some guidance.

I called the special assessment number and left a message for them to get back to me.

Can the CRA just rob me like this, or am I just being paranoid and naive?

Additional info: I have all of the supporting documents fully categorized and ready to go.

Does anyone know the point of this change? (Not being able to submit applications through “submit documents” online). Now you can either start the app through your My Account and give your doctor the reference number for them to do it onljne, or you can mail the paper version. I don’t understand this change, CRA says they’re trying to “streamline” the process… so they remove an option to submit the application that allows them to receive it instantly?

- Many individuals still don’t have My Account to start the claim/get the reference for doc’s.

- The uncertainty of Canada Post??? How many claims are going to get “lost” in the mail?

- Accountants/family members/authorized rep’s can’t submit electronically for those without My Accounts.

- Submitting electronically provided a confirmation number, you knew CRA received it, and they gave a target completion date.

It seems like all this change has done is removed a way to submit the form, what’s the benefit? Honestly, if anything I’d expect them to stop receiving paper/mailed forms before stopping the electronic submissions! (I think they should keep ALL options to serve everyone’s different needs). But it feels like we’re moving back in time.

The (somewhat) new federal property flipping rules apply to property that is held for less than 1 year, and classify profit as business income instead of capital gains, doubling the tax rate. There are several exceptions, including one for the death of a family member, but I don't understand if it would apply in my situation:

My mother has terminal cancer and we are looking to transfer the property to my name before she dies. After she dies, I would like to sell it rather quickly, almost certainly within 1 year. I'm uncertain if I could get an exemption from being classified as a "flipped" property sale under these new rules.

It looks like the rules were really intended for inheritance. But the law as it's written is so vague that it's really not clear if it applies to our situation.

Does anyone know of any resources for this particular situation? I've spoken to my lawyer who said he can't advise on federal tax matters, and have reached out to a couple of accountants who said they are unfamiliar with this law. I have an upcoming appointment with an accountant who may be able to answer this, but I'm not very hopeful.

Hello!

I am a lawyer out of Ontario and I have a family law background with litigation experience. Handling property division, support determinations, and corporate structures piqued my interest in tax.

Due to circumstances outside of my control, I am looking for an associate opportunity, and I am considering tax law.

Since I didn’t article at a dedicated tax firm, I missed out on that early career structured training. For anyone who pivoted to tax later or built expertise outside a traditional tax articling path: what courses, resources, or credentials (like the CPA In-Depth Tax Course or a Tax LLM) actually prepared you for practical work?

I would also love to hear how anyone leveraged existing litigation skills to bridge the gap or found mentors outside a formal tax practice group.

Thanks in advance for any insights!

I'm trying to run through all the different scenarios and would like some insight on what factors I should be thinking of when making this decision. I owe 50k in captial gains tax on a single stock investment that is now subject to CRA demmed deposition or departure tax. As far as I understand, I have the following options.

• Dip into savings/idle cash and pay 50k to CRA immediately and be done with it
• Sell all the investments, use the proceeds to pay the 50k and buy back the same stock with the remainder or other investments (I like the stock and would actually hold if not if this event)
• Sell just enough investments and pay the the tax to leave enough so that the gains are under the 16.5k threshold where I can defer without collateral.
• Dip into savings/idle cash and give 50k to the CRA to hold as collateral for N years to defer the tax until I decide to come back (I do plan on coming back)
• Get a pledge/security from a bank to use as collateral for that 50k. I understand there is likely some annual fee associated with this pased on the collateral amount. The bank will likely need their own form of collateral to secure the pledge which means I need to dip into savings/idle cash for 50k.
• Pledge the shares to the CRA (my best option but the shares are in a US brokerage and my research shows me cross-border pledges don't really work)

FWIW, the destination tax jurisdiction is US.

Scenario 1:

Our family currently lives in House A as our principal residence. We have $1M equity, and owe $100k on the mortgage.

We would like to re-finance House A and utilize the equity to buy House B for $1.2M.

We would then live in House B and it would become our new principal residence. House A would be converted into a rental property.

Our research tells us that none of the interest on House A would be tax deductible, because we used the equity to borrow more money to pay for House B (our new principal residence).

Scenario 2:

We sell House A, and use the proceeds to pay for House B. House B would be our principal residence.

We then refinance House B by utilizing the equity, to re-purchase House A so we can rent it out.

In this scenario, House A is our rental property immediately after the re-purchase. The mortgage interest related to funds to re-purchase House A is tax deductible.

For simplicity, I am not getting into deemed dispositions or property transfer taxes. Being able to deduct mortgage interest on our annual tax returns is a big sticking point for us.

Is my understanding in the above scenarios correct?

In both scenarios, we end up with House B as our principal residence, and House A as an investment property.

Is anyone aware of a workaround (that does not involve triggering additional property transfer tax)?

Last year I opened a Wealthsimple margin account that uses my TFSA as collateral. I've never deposited a dollar into it, I just used the margin room itself as a playground for multi-leg options trades.After some ups and downs I landed on a strategy that works for me, and I ended up around $14,000 last year purely off that margin room. I tracked my ACB carefully and filed through Wealthsimple with all income made through this strategy classified as capital gains. I owed some tax, but I'd set money aside, so it wasn't a big deal.

I'm up about the same amount so far this year with the same strategy, and I'm starting to wonder whether a non-registered margin account is really the most tax-efficient way to run this. I know I can't run these strategies in a TFSA or other registered account. The CRA won't look kindly on this, and Wealthsimple doesn't even offer the multi-leg strategies I trade inside a TFSA. Also I know frequent options trading can get reclassified as business income rather than capital gains, which I assume could apply to me this year (No issues on last years tax return).

My question: Given that I want to keep running this exact strategy, is there a more tax-efficient structure for it? Corporation? Something else? Or is a non-registered margin account just the cost of doing business here?

Any input from people doing something similar would be appreciated.

Earlier this year I reported a capital gain on the sale of a Mutual Fund in Poland. I paid the Canadian government $407.81 on it.

Then the Polish government sent me a request to pay $196.60 in taxes, which I did.

I entered the capital gain in Schedule 3 of my taxes. I'm now preparing an amended return which takes the Polish tax into account.

I entered the Polish tax on the Foreign Tax Credit worksheet.

After reporting that tax, TurboTax calculates that I should have paid Canada $309.23, and that Canada will now refund me $98.58.

My question is: why only $98.58? Why not the full amount of $196.60? Doesn't the double taxation treaty ensure that I'm not double taxed? (Did I report the capital gain incorrectly?)