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 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.
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.
9 Year End Tax Planning Tips for Small Business Owners
For numerous people around the world, the end of this year cannot come soon enough. It has been an unprecedented few months, the effects of which will be felt for many years to come. And while it has been extremely difficult for some small business owners such as restaurants and storefront retail, others have seen their businesses flourish. e.g. toilet paper manufacturers, Amazon and Zoom. Many businesses were able to pivot their business models to provide goods and services that cater to the “new normal” in interesting and creative ways. Some started selling masks while others increased their online course offerings. Beleaguered restaurants started expanding their delivery menus and offerings. To a dispassionate business analyst, this year has been somewhat fascinating and will provide a great deal of data to economists and analysts alike in the years to come.
It is time for business owners everywhere to start contemplating some end of year tax planning tips to not only ensure that they can maximize their tax deductions and reduce taxes payable, but to streamline the tax filing process in the New Year. Even if you are incorporated and your year end date is not December 31st, it is a good time to take advantage of calendar year deadlines for personal tax planning purposes.
Quebec’s Small Business Tax Deduction and How It Relates to Payroll Hours
Revenue Quebec, in the March 2017 budget (or economic plan as they like to call it) decided that a small business wasn’t a small business for the purposes of the tax deduction, unless a minimum number of payroll hours was worked by employees of the business. Initially they had wanted to impose a minimum number of 3 full time employees to qualify for the deduction, however, after realizing that many businesses had several part time employees during the year, they changed the requirement to a minimum number of hours worked to 5,500 hours per year. This could be a combination of full time and part time employees. Consequently, many businesses that had qualified for the small business tax rate were no longer eligible.