The CRA has announced a bunch of changes that could impact your 2025 tax return

Key dates & deadlines

The 2025 tax season officially kicks off on Monday, February 23, 2026, when the CRA will open its NETFILE service and begin accepting tax returns for the year.

After that, here are the main dates to mark on your calendar:

• March 2, 2026: Deadline to contribute to an RRSP, pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) or specified pension plan (SPP) for the 2025 tax year
• March 2, 2026: Deadline for your employer to give you your T4 slip (and file their T4 summary with the CRA)
• April 30, 2026: Deadline to file your tax return and pay any balance owing
• June 15, 2026: Filing deadline if you're self-employed (or your partner is) — but keep in mind you still have to pay any taxes owing by April 30

New tax brackets & BPA

As usual, the CRA has adjusted federal tax brackets and credits to keep up with inflation. For 2025, the indexation rate is 2.7% — which means slight increases to both income thresholds and many non-refundable tax credit amounts.

Here's how the federal brackets break down for 2025:

• 14.5% on the first $57,375 of taxable income
• 20.5% on income over $57,375 up to $114,750
• 26% on income over $114,750 up to $177,882
• 29% on income over $177,882 up to $253,414
• 33% on income over $253,414

The basic personal amount (BPA) — which is the amount of income all Canadians can earn completely tax-free — has also gone up:

• If your income is $177,882 or less, your BPA is $16,129
• If your income is $253,414 or more, your BPA is $14,538
• If your income falls in between, your BPA will be adjusted gradually

A number of other federal credits — including the amounts for a spouse, dependant, caregiver, disability, medical expenses and more — have also been increased by 2.7% for 2025.

Keep in mind these only apply to the federal portion of your taxes — you'll still owe tax to your province or territory on top of these amounts, and those have their own rates and brackets. Most provinces and territories have made similar inflation adjustments for 2025.

Tax rate changes

One of the biggest updates for 2025 is a change to the federal tax rate on the lowest income bracket.

Starting July 1, 2025, the rate dropped from 15% to 14%. Since the change took effect halfway through the year, the CRA is applying a blended rate of 14.5% across the full 2025 tax year.

There are also two provincial rate changes to know about:

• Alberta introduced a new 8% tax rate on the first $60,000 of taxable income — a drop from the previous 10% minimum.
• P.E.I. adjusted all five of its personal tax rates for 2025, lowering the first four and slightly increasing the top bracket.

New top-up tax credit

To go along with the mid-year federal tax cut, the CRA also introduced a new top-up tax credit for 2025. It's designed to make sure Canadians claiming non-refundable tax credits on amounts above the first income bracket threshold don't lose out.

The new top-up tax credit applies if you're claiming affected non-refundable tax credits on amounts over $57,375. It effectively maintains a 15% rate on those portions, so the rate drop doesn't reduce your credit value.

Alberta brought in a similar fix to account for its new 8% bracket — a new non-refundable supplemental tax credit equal to 2% of the total amount of certain non-refundable credits over $60,000.

CRA service changes

The CRA has made a few internal changes for 2025 to improve its online services, including updates to your CRA My Account access and how you authorize someone to act on your behalf.

If you get locked out of your CRA account or forget your login, you can now reset your credentials online without having to call in. Just head to the sign-in page, click "Your account is locked" under the Help section and follow the steps.

There's also a change to how you authorize a representative. As of July 15, 2025, you can no longer use EFILE software to submit an authorization request. Instead, representatives must use the CRA's Represent a Client portal — and the access becomes active as soon as you confirm it within your account.

If you can't access your CRA account at all, there's also now a faster workaround. The CRA removed the five-day processing delay for its alternative access process, so your representative can get access right away — as long as they submit the right forms and include info from a notice of assessment that's at least six months old.

More eligible expenses for the disability supports deduction

If you claim the disability supports deduction, the list of eligible expenses expanded for 2025. This deduction helps people with physical or mental impairments cover the costs of supports they need for work, school or research.

Here are the new eligible items added for the 2025 tax year:

• Alternative input device
• Attendant care services
• Bed positioning device
• Digital pen device
• Ergonomic work chair
• Memory or organizational aids
• Mobile computer cart
• Navigation device
• Service animal

Most of these require a prescription or a written certification from a medical practitioner. Only the person with the disability can claim the deduction.

Capital gains updates

The CRA introduced two new capital gains rules for 2025 that could benefit small business owners and certain co-op shareholders.

First, if you sold shares under a qualifying cooperative conversion, you may now be eligible for a capital gains deduction. The CRA says this applies to specific conversions that started in 2024 and carried into 2025.

There's also a change to capital gains rollovers for small business shares. For qualifying sales made after December 31, 2024, the window to acquire replacement shares has been extended. The CRA also expanded the definition of what qualifies as a small business corporation share — which could open up more opportunities to defer gains.

For full details, the CRA recommends checking Guide T4037: Capital Gains, once it has been updated for the 2025 tax year.

Mineral tax credit expansions

If you invest in flow-through shares related to mining exploration, there are two updates that might apply to you.

The Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC) was expanded in late 2025 to include 12 new minerals, including tin, tungsten, niobium, manganese and others. The new rules apply to eligible agreements signed after November 4, 2025, and before April 1, 2027.

At the same time, the CRA extended the Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (METC) through to April 1, 2027, for qualifying flow-through share agreements.

These credits mainly affect investors in the mining sector, but if you're considering a resource-focused portfolio, it's worth checking if your investments are eligible.

Final fuel charge eliminations

The Return of Fuel Charge Proceeds to Farmers Tax Credit has now officially ended. The 2024–2025 fuel charge year was the last one eligible for this credit, since the federal fuel charge officially ended on April 1, 2025.

This change only affects certain farmers who used the credit to offset fuel costs. But if you're one of them, the CRA says you can still claim the credit for the 2024–2025 period, but nothing beyond that.

Haida Gwaii reclassification

Starting with the 2025 tax year, the CRA has reclassified the islands of Haida Gwaii from the intermediate zone to the northern zone for tax purposes.

That might sound technical, but it comes with a real benefit — higher northern residents deductions for residents of the islands.

If you live in Haida Gwaii and meet the CRA's eligibility criteria, you can now claim the full northern deductions for things like residency and travel. These deductions are meant to help offset the higher cost of living in remote areas.

Underused Housing Tax elimination

On November 4, 2025, the federal government announced it would eliminate the Underused Housing Tax (UHT) starting with the 2025 calendar year. That means no UHT is payable — and no UHT return needs to be filed — for 2025 or any future years.

The CRA notes this doesn't change the rules for previous years. If you were required to file a UHT return for 2022, 2023 or 2024, you're still on the hook for that, and penalties may still apply if you haven't done it yet.

It's worth noting that the UHT is completely separate from your personal income tax return — so this change won't affect your T1, but it could simplify things if you own residential property that might have been subject to the tax.