Clients we know well
Who We Serve: Accounting for London's Landlords, Newcomers and Professionals
A landlord with a duplex in Old East Village, a first-year international student at Western and a physician setting up a professional corporation all file tax returns, but almost nothing else about their filings is the same. At A&P Accounting & Tax Experts, we have built our practice around the client groups whose returns go wrong most often when they are treated as routine.
Rental property owners, newcomers, incorporated professionals, tradespeople and farm families each bring their own forms, elections and CRA review patterns. Knowing those patterns is what lets us spot a missed expense, a residency question or a capital cost allowance decision before the return is filed.
Find the group that sounds like you, then follow the links to the service that fits.
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Rental income tax in Canada
Landlords and Rental Property Owners
Rental income in London comes in many shapes: near-campus houses rented by the room to Western University and Fanshawe College students, legal basement units in owner-occupied homes, side-by-side duplexes and the occasional cottage rented for a few summer weeks. Each one is reported on your personal return, and each has its own traps.
In London, houses and buildings with four or fewer rental units also need a City of London residential rental unit licence, which comes with inspections and an annual fee. Those licensing and inspection costs are deductible rental expenses, and they are easy to forget at tax time.
Reporting Rental Income on Form T776
Rental income and expenses are reported on Form T776, the Statement of Real Estate Rentals, which is filed with your T1 return. Deductible expenses include mortgage interest (not principal), property tax, insurance, utilities you pay, repairs, advertising, licence fees and property management.
The most important judgment call is current versus capital. Patching a few shingles is a current repair you deduct this year, while replacing the whole roof is a capital improvement added to the building's cost and claimed over time through capital cost allowance (CCA).
CCA is optional, cannot be used to create or increase a rental loss, and is recaptured when you sell, so we decide each year whether claiming it actually helps you.
Selling a Rental Property
When you sell a rental, half of any capital gain is taxable at the current 50% inclusion rate, and any CCA you claimed over the years is added back to income in full as recapture. The land portion of the price is never depreciable, so splitting the sale between land and building matters.
Under the residential property flipping rule, a property you owned for less than 12 months is generally treated as fully taxable business income unless a life event exception applies, such as a death, a new job or a separation. A unit in your own home adds principal residence questions as well.
We prepare personal tax returns with rental schedules for London landlords and help you time a sale through tax planning before you sell a property. The CRA's guide to rental income covers the official rules.
Your first Canadian return
Newcomers and International Students
London draws a steady stream of new residents, from permanent residents settling with their families to international students at Western University and Fanshawe College. For most of them, filing a Canadian tax return is not only a legal requirement but the key that unlocks federal and Ontario benefits.
The first return sets the foundation for every year that follows, so getting residency and income right from day one matters.
Your First Canadian Tax Return
Your first return starts with residency. Once you establish significant residential ties to Canada, such as a home, a spouse or dependants here, you become a resident for tax purposes from your arrival date.
You report your world income from that date onward, along with the income you earned outside Canada before arrival, which is used to calculate certain credits and benefits. Benefits such as the Canada Child Benefit, the Ontario Trillium Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (the GST/HST credit's new name since July 2026) generally depend on filing.
The CRA's guide for newcomers to Canada explains each step, and our personal tax returns for newcomers in London handle them for you.
International Students: Tuition and Benefits
International students who live in Canada while studying are often residents for tax purposes, even with a study permit. Your school issues a T2202 tuition slip, and the tuition amount can reduce tax on part-time or summer job income or be carried forward to future years.
Filing also lets you apply for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and, if you pay rent in Ontario, the Ontario Trillium Benefit, even when your income is low or nil.
The CRA's page on international students studying in Canada sets out the residency tests.
New to Canada or filing for the first time?
Call and tell us your arrival date and visa status. We will explain what to report and which benefits you can apply for.
Incorporated professionals
Physicians, Dentists and Professional Corporations
London's hospitals and clinics, including London Health Sciences Centre and St. Joseph's Health Care London, employ and contract with a large community of physicians, residents and allied professionals. Add dentists, optometrists, lawyers and accountants in private practice, and you have a client group whose tax picture changes sharply when they incorporate.
A professional corporation can defer tax on income you do not need right away, but only if the corporation, its payroll and your personal return are planned together.
Setting Up a Professional Corporation
Physicians practise through a medicine professional corporation and dentists through a dentistry professional corporation, each requiring a certificate of authorization from their regulatory college. Fee-for-service OHIP billings then flow to the corporation instead of to you personally.
Salary, Dividends and Retained Earnings
Salary creates RRSP room and CPP pensionable earnings. Dividends avoid payroll but not personal tax. Retained earnings are taxed at the small business rate, though passive investment income above $50,000 a year shrinks the federal small business limit.
Residents and Employed Professionals
Residents and hospital-employed staff receive T4 slips and often have tuition carryforwards, professional dues and moving expenses to claim. We help you plan the switch from employee to incorporated practice when it comes.
Our T2 corporate tax returns for professional corporations and owner-manager tax planning for salary and dividends work together so each year-end decision is made with your personal return in view.
Builders, electricians, plumbers and more
Trades and Contractors
Contractors in London's busy residential construction market tend to grow fast: one truck becomes two, a helper becomes a crew, and suddenly there are HST, payroll and WSIB obligations on top of the work itself. Getting the paperwork right early protects you from expensive catch-up later.
Sole Proprietors on Form T2125
Unincorporated trades report on Form T2125, claiming tools, materials, phone, a home office and vehicle expenses supported by a mileage log. Both halves of CPP on self-employment earnings are paid with your return. See our self-employed tax help for London trades.
Hiring Helpers and Running Payroll
Paying a helper in cash can leave you owing their CPP, EI and income tax plus penalties if the CRA decides they were an employee. Once someone works under your direction, you need a payroll account, source deductions, T4 slips and Records of Employment. Our payroll services for Ontario contractors handle it all.
WSIB, HST and T5018 Reporting
Most independent operators in Ontario construction must carry WSIB coverage. Construction businesses also report subcontractor payments on T5018 slips, and many contractors pass the $30,000 HST threshold early. Read about our HST returns for contractors.
Growing past a one-person operation?
Call before you hire your first employee or cross the HST threshold. A short conversation now saves a lot of cleanup later.
Middlesex and Thames Centre agriculture
Farm Families
Farming families across Middlesex County, from cash crop operations around Strathroy to mixed and livestock farms in Thames Centre, face tax rules that apply to almost no one else. Farm income can be reported on the cash method, and government programs draw directly on the numbers in your return.
Our online service suits farm families who would rather not drive into the city during planting or harvest. See our accounting and tax services for Strathroy farm families and our tax services for Dorchester and Thames Centre.
Farm Income, Programs and Registration
Ontario farm businesses grossing $7,000 or more a year must register through Agricorp's Farm Business Registration, which also supports eligibility for the farm property tax class. Agricorp delivers AgriStability in Ontario, while AgriInvest is delivered by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, and both rely on the farming income reported with your tax return.
Passing the Farm to the Next Generation
Qualified farm property can be transferred to a child at a tax-deferred amount, and the lifetime capital gains exemption can shelter a large part of the gain on a sale. Planning the transfer years ahead, with farm succession tax planning, keeps those options open.
HST on Farm Sales and Purchases
Most basic farm products are zero-rated, so registered farms often claim more HST back on fuel, equipment and inputs than they collect. That makes accurate, on-time HST filing a source of cash rather than a cost.
Incorporating a Farm Operation
Larger operations often incorporate to retain profits at the small business rate. The decision affects program payments, succession and how land is held, so it needs to be weighed carefully rather than rushed.
See Where You Fit
Landlord, newcomer, professional, tradesperson or farmer, the first step is the same: call, tell us your situation and get a fixed quote. If you do not fit neatly into any of these groups, call anyway; most of our clients are a mix of two or three.