Explore Small Business Finance Topics
Discover our most popular topics for Canadian solopreneurs and small business owners. From income tax and GST/HST to QuickBooks tutorials and managing your business finances, these guides are designed to help you move from financial uncertainty to financial confidence.
Click on any topic and scroll down to see related articles.
📑Canadian Income Tax
Guidance on filing and planning your Canadian taxes, from T1 and T2 returns to instalments
📊Managing Business Finances
From cash flow to pricing and metrics — learn to manage your business finances with confidence.
🏢 Canadian Business Structure
Should you incorporate? Stay informed on sole proprietorships, corporations, and registrations.
💰 GST/HST & QST
Understand how to register, file, and maximize input tax credits while avoiding common mistakes.
🧾 Guides and Tutorials
Practical accounting processes like reconciliations, journal entries, and reporting.
📝 Deductions & Expenses
Learn which expenses are CRA deductible and how to track them for maximum tax savings.
Quebec Taxes & Business
QST, Revenu Québec filings, Quebec payroll, and provincial rules every entrepreneur should know.
👤 Paying Yourself
Salary vs dividends, management fees, and how to pay yourself from your corporation or small business.
💻 QuickBooks Online & Tools
Tutorials, guides and time-saving tips for using QuickBooks Online effectively.
🏦 Money & Personal Finance
Personal finance strategies for entrepreneurs, from RRSPs to saving for taxes.
Should You Pay Yourself a Salary or Dividend? 7 Considerations For Small Business Owners
While incorporation has many benefits for small business owners, it does introduce additional complexities that are not faced by registered businesses. Unincorporated business owners are essentially taxed on their net business income, which allows for more time to devote to tax planning and how to spend all of your richly deserved profits. Incorporated business owners, on the other hand, cannot just withdraw cash from their businesses as the need or whim arises. There needs to be a formalized structure in place which usually takes the form of either salary or dividends. Either type of remuneration has tax and other implications that need to be considered before making a decision.
Consider These Factors When Deciding Whether to Take Salary or Dividends
One of the most common questions I get asked by corporate business owners is whether to take salary or dividends and how much tax can be saved by taking only dividends. The answer unfortunately, like most issues relating to tax, is that it depends on your circumstances. The concept of integration in the Canadian tax system theoretically strives to make taxes payable the same whether you take salary or dividends or a combination of both. In reality, there is always a difference as everyone’s tax situation is distinct.
Frequently Asked Questions About Salary and Dividends by Owners of Corporations
As an accountant and small business financial consultant, one of the most common areas of confusion and questions by small business corporation owners revolves around how to pay themselves and if one way is preferable to another. I have addressed some of them in my blog posts on the factors to consider when choosing salary or dividends and the types of ways to structure your remuneration . There are however specific questions that common up frequently: