There are not many changes impacting the average Canadian in this year’s tax forms.
The most significant is a change to the lowest federal tax bracket.
It was lowered on July 1st from from 15% to 14.5%, and will drop another half percentage in 2026.
U-File tax specialist Gerry Vittoratos says it does not mean higher refunds.
“Because the change was basically applied as of July 1st of last year in our payroll taxes,” says Vittoratos.
“So after July 1st, you would have noticed that your payroll taxes were reduced and that was to reflect this particular change that the government had announced.”
Other changes include the basic personal amount going to $16,129.
Any income below that number is federally tax-exempt.
Most of the other tax credits and reductions benefit businesses or those who are self-employed.
Vittoratos says many were announced to help offset the impact of the U.S. trade tariff changes.
“By giving these kinds of incentives, the government is trying to convince these companies to stay because even though they would have to pay a certain tariff due to the tariff policies, they might save that money and then some through these kinds of incentives like the Accelerated Investment Incentive.”
The Accelerated Investment Incentive allows for a deduction on capital spending.
Canadians can start filing their tax forms in late February.
