Requirements to freelance on IEC visa?

[Skeeter87]

Hi,

I arrived in Canada in October 2019 & worked a couple of day jobs (kitchen & retail) until a few months ago when I acquired enough freelance work to go full time with that. So I'm freelancing fulltime now and just want to make sure that I'm doing it right as far as my IEC visa stuff goes since the info on the government website is vague and doesn't really explain what to do in my situation.

So do I just need to register for GST & set up a business number? I've been putting aside a % of my income with the intention of using it to pay tax when I file my return come tax time.

Is there anything else I need to do as far as IEC Visa requirements go?

Thanks in advance for the help

 

[shannonxtreme]

I'm not sure what the IEC requirements are, but for tax purposes:

You only need to charge HST if your freelance income (not overall income, just freelance) is more than $30,000 annually. If that's the case, you'd need to set up a business account with the CRA. For income taxes, I set aside 30% as a rule of thumb. Since this is your primary source of income, just look up the income tax brackets in your province or territory and plan accordingly!

Also remember that you are taxed on your income BEFORE you've paid credit card processing fees and bank fees. So if you made 100, fees were 10, you would still have to set aside 30. You can claim bank fees etc on your tax return.

 

[Skeeter87]

Awesome! Thanks for the helpful info. Lame that we not only have to sacrifice 30% of what we earn to pay the tax man but then we also have to pay bank fees :/