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The best accounting and tax services for you are the ones that can explain, in plain words, what they will file, by which date and who signs. For a 2025 personal return the date was April 30, 2026, and a self-employed person had until June 15, 2026 to file, though any balance was still due April 30. That’s the test to start with, because a firm that can’t tell you this in one breath probably isn’t the one to hire.
What do accounting and tax services actually do?
The label covers three quite different jobs. Bookkeeping keeps your records straight through the year. Tax preparation turns those records into a return. Advice is the part where someone tells you whether to pay yourself a salary or dividends, or whether an expense is worth claiming at all.
Most people only need the second. If you have a T4 and a couple of T5 slips, good filing software will do the job for less trouble than a meeting. A preparer earns their fee when you have a business, rental income, a move between provinces, or a return the CRA has questioned.
Do you need a professional at all?
Often not. Think of Priya, who works at a Saskatoon hardware store, has one T4 and a small RRSP receipt. Her return is a half-hour job in software, and paying a few hundred bucks for it would be money wasted. Now think of her brother Dev, who started driving for a delivery app, rents out a basement suite and moved from Regina to Calgary in the same year. His return has several moving parts, and a mistake in one can ripple into the rest.
A rough rule: if you can describe your whole year’s income in one sentence, software is probably enough. If it takes a paragraph, a second opinion starts to look sensible.
Who signs, and who can see my CRA account?
Ask this before you hand over a single document. A preparer who sends your return electronically has you sign a declaration on Form T183. To look at your account, they now need your authorization through the CRA’s Represent a Client service. As of July 15, 2025, preparers can no longer request access for an individual through EFILE.
Level 1 lets them see information. Level 2 lets them see it and ask for changes. Give the lower level first, and you can always raise it. You can also cancel access when the work is done, which people forget to do.
Which dates should the firm quote you?
These are the 2025 return dates on the CRA’s site. We couldn’t find published dates for the 2026 return yet, so treat anyone who quotes them as guessing until the CRA page says otherwise.
| Item | 2025 return date |
|---|---|
| Most individuals, filing and payment | April 30, 2026 |
| Self-employed, filing | June 15, 2026 |
| Self-employed, any balance owing | April 30, 2026 |
| T4 and T5 slips from payers | End of February |
| T3 trust slips | Usually end of March |
When a date lands on a weekend or holiday, a return received or postmarked the next business day is on time.
What should you ask before you hire anyone?
We can’t tell you what any firm charges, because fees vary and we couldn’t confirm a range from an official source. So ask, and get the answer in writing. Ask what the price covers, whether it changes if you have a business or a rental, and what happens if the CRA writes to you next year. Ask whether the fee depends on the size of your refund. If it does, think twice.
Then ask who actually prepares the return. Some firms have a senior person meet you and a junior person do the work. That’s fine, as long as someone with experience reviews it.
Check the credentials they claim. Accounting designations are regulated by provincial bodies, and each body keeps a public list of members. A quick search on that list takes two minutes. One caution, though: we didn’t confirm the rules of any single provincial body for this page, so look at your own province’s list.
What should you bring to the first meeting?
Walking in prepared saves time, and with hourly billing it can save money. Bring last year’s notice of assessment, every slip you’ve received so far, receipts for anything you plan to claim, and your RRSP and childcare paperwork. If you’re self-employed, add a summary of income and expenses by month. Write down any big life changes too: a move, a new baby, a marriage or separation, a death in the family.
Tell the preparer what you don’t have yet as well. A missing slip is much easier to chase in March than in April.
What does a good preparer do with your numbers?
They should be able to reproduce a rough figure without a computer. Take a freelancer in Ontario with $60,000 of net business income. Our self-employed tax calculator shows $7,879 of income tax and $6,724 of CPP, so $14,603 in all, leaving $45,397. It leaves out EI and GST/HST, and the deductions field doesn’t reduce CPP, so it’s a rough guide only. But if your preparer’s answer is far from that, ask why.
For an employee, the income tax calculator and the tax refund calculator give you a sense of what a refund should look like before anyone files. If you’re expecting $3,000 back and hear $400, that’s a fair question to put to them.
Where the mistakes happen
The most common one is filing before all slips have arrived. The CRA itself suggests waiting until you have your slips, documents and receipts. Auto-fill My Return only pulls in what the CRA already has, so rent, medical costs and childcare still need to be entered by hand.
Another is handing over a shoebox and expecting a firm to find deductions. Sort by month, keep the receipts, and note the business use of any vehicle. Records must be kept for six years.
Last, don’t let anyone deposit your refund into an account that isn’t yours. It’s a small thing to check on the return, and a big thing to fix afterwards. Before you sign, read the return yourself. Your name is on it, and a preparer’s slip is still your return.
What this page is based on
The dates and rules above come from Canada Revenue Agency pages on 2025 filing dates, tax slips, Represent a Client and tax software, read in September 2026. The example uses our own calculator with 2026 Ontario and federal rates. The Priya and Dev stories are made-up illustrations. Nothing here is a fee quote or a review of any firm, and this site has no link with any accountant or with the government.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an accountant to file my taxes?
Not if your return is simple. A T4, a few T5 slips and standard credits are fine in certified filing software. A business, rental income or a CRA review is where paid help starts to make sense.
How does my preparer get into my CRA account?
Through Represent a Client. Since July 15, 2025 preparers can no longer ask for access to an individual's account through EFILE.
What do accountants charge?
We couldn't confirm a fee range from an official source. Ask for a written price that says what is covered.
What was the deadline for the 2025 return?
April 30, 2026 for most people. Self-employed people had until June 15, 2026 to file, but any balance owing was still due April 30.
How long should I keep my records?
The CRA asks businesses to keep records for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to.
- 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