Catch-up
You drive, deliver, or sell on a platform and never filed. What is owing?
2026-10-25 · 6 min read · Tax Everyday, Vaughan
Platform income is business income. Uber, SkipTheDishes, DoorDash, Etsy, Airbnb, and the rest do not become a hobby because the app paid you. CRA often already has a T4A or an information return from the platform. If you never filed, you are not invisible. You are a person with slips and no return. The personal late-filing penalty applies to tax owing. CPP on the net business income is part of that balance.
Some of these activities also raise HST. Taxi and rideshare businesses are generally required to register for GST/HST even below the $30,000 small-supplier line. Delivery and handmade goods are not automatically in that exception. Do not apply the taxi rule to every app, and do not ignore it if you were driving people.
What the app report is, and what it is not
The annual summary is a starting point for gross revenue. It is not a finished T2125. Fees the platform kept, mileage, phone, and supplies can be expenses when they are real and documented.
- Download every annual tax summary from the app before the account is closed.
- Separate gross fares, tips, and the platform’s service fee. The fee is usually an expense, not a reduction you invent.
- Kilometres need a record. Reconstructing a year from a calendar is weaker than an app log, but it is better than a flat 60%.
- If you crossed $30,000 of taxable supplies across four consecutive calendar quarters, or in a single quarter, small-supplier status ends.
- Several quiet years are still several T1s. Each year has its own summaries.
A platform year is a self-employed year
When the summaries and the expense totals are ready, Tax Everyday files that year at the self-employed price: $650 plus HST. If you have four apps and no mileage, we quote the rebuild. HST returns, if you were required to be registered, are quoted on top. They are not included in the $650.
Drop the annual summaries first. Those PDFs tell us whether this is a filing job or a reconstruction. You can book a time the same day.
Short answers
The platform took tax off. Am I done?+
A platform withholding or a T4A does not file your return. You still report the income, claim the expenses, and pay CPP on the profit. Any tax withheld is a credit, not a finished file.
I made under $30,000. Can I ignore HST?+
Maybe, if you are a small supplier and you are not in a business that must register anyway, such as taxi or rideshare. Under $30,000 is not a free pass for the income tax return.
Want this applied to your file?
These notes are general. A return is prepared only after we see your slips.