By Sammy Hudes
Regardless of the facet hustle, monetary specialists say it’s necessary to concentrate on the foundations surrounding your revenue declaration, particularly as key deadlines for tax-filing season method.
Misconceptions are frequent amongst self-employed staff — usually these with facet gigs — in relation to guidelines for submitting taxes, mentioned Yannick Lemay, a tax knowledgeable with H&R Block Canada.
He mentioned purchasers usually get confused about how a lot revenue they should earn to be required to declare it on their tax filings. The easy reply, he mentioned, is that “there’s no such threshold.”
“Any enterprise revenue must be declared, even when it’s solely $1,” mentioned Lemay.
“The results are fairly extreme. In the event you don’t report all of your revenue that you just’ve made throughout the yr, I imply, it may be a felony offence. You’ll have penalties.”
April 30 is the deadline this yr for most individuals to file their revenue tax and profit return, and pay any taxes owed. However those that are self-employed, or have a partner or common-law associate who’s, have till June 16 to file.
Nonetheless, any cash owed should nonetheless be paid by April 30, even for these self-employed, to be able to keep away from paying curiosity.
The Canada Income Company warns it fees curiosity on most unpaid balances owing and in some instances, there may very well be penalties related to submitting a late return or lacking a fee deadline.
The 2 greatest errors that self-employed staff often make are both submitting an incorrect quantity or doing so late, mentioned Penelope Graham, a private finance knowledgeable for RateHub.
“It’s often the concern of the primary that may result in the latter,” she mentioned.
“They’re undecided if that backside line quantity is right as a result of these sorts of taxes are just a little bit extra complicated. It’s actually on you to maintain observe of what you’ve earned, the tax that you just’re really going to owe on these earnings, in addition to something you’ll be able to declare as a enterprise expense.”
In contrast to staff with a direct employer, you don’t obtain a T4 for self-employed revenue, she mentioned.
That’s why it’s a should to deal with thorough bookkeeping as a yearlong apply, fairly than speeding to determine issues out throughout the busy tax season.
This yr additionally marks an necessary change for the reporting guidelines round taxes paid by gig staff who work for digital platform operators, comparable to supply drivers or individuals promoting items or companies on-line.
Sure platforms like DoorDash, Etsy and Airbnbare now required to gather and report data to the CRA on most drivers, sellers and hosts. This data might embrace figuring out particulars like names and addresses, platform charges, property places and fee particulars.
Though staff don’t should do something completely different themselves, Lemay mentioned the brand new guidelines enable the CRA to check the quantities reported on their tax returns to data offered by the platforms — underscoring the significance of being correct.
“Now the CRA is conscious of that enterprise revenue you’ve made with out you telling them,” he mentioned.
In 2023, greater than 2.6 million individuals in Canada had been thought of self-employed, making up 13.2% of the employed inhabitants, in keeping with figures launched final yr by Statistics Canada.
With the rise of digital platforms, self-employment is changing into extra frequent as a approach to earn revenue, even on the facet, mentioned Francisco Remolino, principal and licensed insolvency trustee at Remolino & Associates.
He mentioned it’s additionally a response to ongoing financial pressures, such because the excessive price of residing and housing affordability issues. However he mentioned the problem is that after you have a side-gig, and due to this fact a second supply of revenue, your taxes may go up because of being in the next tax bracket.
“Persons are making an attempt to get artistic as to how they will complement their revenue,” Remolino mentioned.
“So sure, we’ve seen a rise in individuals working with a supplemental revenue, however we’re additionally seeing a rise in individuals defaulting on taxessimply as a result of they don’t know.”
For these new to submitting taxes on revenue from their facet hustle, Graham mentioned she recommends setting apart cash to seek the advice of an accountant or utilizing a good tax-filing software program to be able to keep away from errors.
“There’s no disgrace in getting just a little little bit of assist to be sure you’re doing this accurately, particularly whenever you’re nonetheless studying the tax necessities,” she mentioned.
“As a result of particularly in relation to issues like claiming your bills, which might have a really drastic affect in your backside line as somebody who’s self-employed, it’s actually necessary to know what qualifies.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed April 17, 2025.
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Final modified: April 17, 2025
