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Tax and accounting services cover three different jobs: filing your return, keeping a business’s books, and advising on tax. Pick the one you need before you pick a firm. The CRA lets you authorize a representative to deal with it for you, but the filing deadline stays yours, and April 30 has already come and gone for the 2025 return.
What do tax and accounting services actually do?
A personal return preparer files your T1 and answers the CRA’s letters. A bookkeeper records income and expenses through the year. An accountant sums those up into statements and advises on tax. Some firms do all three, and some only one, so ask which.
If you searched for a firm called CN Tax & Accounting Services, we have no information about it and make no claim about it. What follows applies to any firm you’re weighing.
What should you ask before you hire anyone?
Ask what the fee covers, in writing, and what happens if the CRA sends a letter after the return is filed. Fees vary too much between firms and provinces for us to quote a typical level, so get two quotes for the same job, then line up what each one includes before you look at the totals. A low price that leaves out the CRA letters isn’t cheap for long.
Ask who signs the return and who you’d speak to in March. Ask how they receive your slips and how they store them. And ask whether they’ll be authorized through the CRA’s own system, because that’s the safe way to give access.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Are you set up with a CRA RepID? | A representative with a RepID can send you an authorization request to confirm |
| Will I confirm access myself? | You must confirm or deny a request that comes from your representative |
| What are you filing, and by when? | April 30 for most people, June 15 if you or your spouse are self-employed, with payment still due April 30 (2025 return) |
| Who pays a late-filing penalty? | Agree it before the work starts |
How does a firm get access to your CRA file?
Through authorization. The CRA’s page on how to give authorization calls the online route through your account the fastest. You sign in to your CRA account, go to Profile and add an authorized representative. Or your representative can send a request through the CRA’s Represent a Client service, and you confirm it. There’s also a route using details from a notice of assessment on a return processed at least six months earlier, and a mailed paper form (Form AUT-01) that gives offline access only.
Never hand over your CRA sign-in details. Authorization exists so you don’t have to.
What does a self-employed year look like on paper?
Numbers help when you brief someone. Say you’re a sole proprietor in Ontario with $80,000 of net business income. Our self-employed tax calculator shows $13,233.57 of income tax and $8,892.90 of CPP (both halves), so $22,126.47 in all, or 27.7% of the income. It leaves out EI, GST/HST and your business expenses, so treat it as a starting point for the conversation.
If you’ll owe that much, ask about instalments. The tax instalments calculator shows four payments a year, on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. Businesses that collect sales tax can test prices with the GST/HST calculator. And a corporation owner can look at the corporate tax calculator, though the Ontario small business rate there is a blend of two rates during a mid-year cut, so we treat it as an estimate.
Free help exists too
The CRA lists a volunteer tax clinic program, and it offers free online or in-person help for small business and self-employed people. The income limits differ between CRA pages, so check them before you count on a clinic. If your return is a simple one, that route costs nothing.
What happens if the return is late?
The CRA charges a late-filing penalty of 5% of the balance owing plus 1% for each full month it’s late, up to 12 months, and interest runs on top. Take Hannah, a freelance photographer in Regina who owes $4,000 and files five months late: that’s 5% ($200) plus 5% more ($200), so $400 of penalty before interest. A repeat late filer pays a higher rate, so one slip can snowball. If you can’t pay, file anyway and ask the CRA about a payment plan.
Mistakes that cost people money
Paying a firm before you know what’s included. Get the scope in writing.
Sending slips by email without asking how they’re stored. Ask first.
Assuming the preparer is responsible for the deadline. The CRA holds you to it.
Leaving it until tax time, when every firm is swamped. A late return with a balance owing carries the penalty above, and it grows every full month.
Where does this come from?
The authorization steps, the dates, the penalty rates and the free help programs come from Canada Revenue Agency pages, read in October 2026. The example numbers come from our own calculators on 2026 rules. This site has no link with the CRA, any government body or any accounting firm.
Frequently asked questions
What do tax and accounting services include?
Usually return preparation, bookkeeping and tax advice. Firms differ, so ask which of the three they do.
How does a preparer get access to my CRA file?
You authorize them in your CRA account, or you confirm a request they send through Represent a Client.
Who is responsible for the deadline?
You are. For the 2025 return most people had to file and pay by April 30, 2026.
Can I get free help instead?
The CRA lists a volunteer tax clinic program. Check its eligibility rules first, as we couldn't read the limits.
What do fees usually run?
We couldn't confirm typical fees from an official source, so we don't quote any. Get two quotes for the same job.
- How to choose a tax preparer in Canada
How to decide if you need a tax preparer, what a preparer does, the questions to ask before you hire one and where to find free help in Canada