No one withholds tax from your payments. No one reminds you of your deadlines. This guide follows the order in which the questions come up: before your first contract, at your first invoice, during the year, then the following spring.
Are you really self-employed?
A self-employed person runs a sole proprietorship: a business owned by one person, with no separate company. What you earn is business or professional income, not a salary.
That's the case as soon as you sell your services or products to make a profit, or with a reasonable expectation of making one. A manicurist who sees clients in a room at home is self-employed. So is someone who sells their jewellery online, and so is a translator who works for individuals and small businesses.
What this means for you. You are the business. You personally keep all the profits, and you report them on your own income tax returns. If you're weighing a corporation instead, decide before you start: the legal form of your business changes your tax obligations.
Did a client give you a T4A slip for your fees? That isn't a salary. See what a T4A slip changes for a self-employed person.
Before your first contract: do you need to register your business?
Yes, if you work under a name that doesn't include your first and last name. If you invoice as "Atelier Brume," you must register. If you invoice under your own name, with no other business name, this requirement doesn't apply.
- The deadline. You have 60 days after you start operating to file a declaration of registration with the Registraire des entreprises du Québec. The deadline is shorter for a few specific activities, such as a tanning salon.
- The number. You then receive a Quebec enterprise number (NEQ).
- The fees. Fees apply. The amount is published on the Registraire's fee page.
What to do. Choose your business name before you print business cards or put your website online. The Quebec government's online service Démarrer une entreprise (starting a business) then walks you through the steps with the various government departments, one at a time.
At your first invoice: do you need to charge GST and QST?
Not necessarily. The GST is the federal goods and services tax. The QST is the Quebec sales tax. In Quebec, Revenu Québec administers both.
The threshold is $30,000 in taxable sales, tracked by calendar quarter: January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December. As long as you don't go over it in a single quarter, or over four consecutive calendar quarters, you're a "small supplier." You don't have to register, or charge these taxes.
Three points to know right now:
- the threshold is based on your sales, not your profit;
- once you cross it, the deadlines to register are short;
- you can also register earlier, by choice, to recover the taxes you pay on your business purchases.
How to calculate the threshold, the deadlines and the steps are covered in our guide to GST and QST registration.
One exception. Do you drive a taxi or carry passengers for an app like Uber or Lyft? Then registration is mandatory from your very first ride, whatever your sales.
What to do in your first month. Add up your sales by quarter in a simple spreadsheet, and keep it up to date. That total will tell you when to register.
During the year: what to record, what to keep?
Every spring, you'll attach a statement of your business income and expenses to your Quebec income tax return. That's the form Business or Professional Income and Expenses (TP-80), or financial statements. You need one for each business if you run more than one.
To fill it out without panic, keep these every month:
- the invoices you send and the payments you receive;
- receipts for your business expenses: software, phone, equipment, travel;
- statements for the bank account these amounts go through.
How long should you keep them? Keep your records and supporting documents for six years after the end of the last tax year they relate to. Digital copies are accepted if they are accurate and readable by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Records must be kept in Canada, at your place of business or at home.
What this means for you. A receipt scanned and filed the same day saves you a shoebox to sort through in April. If you're registered for the sales taxes, the same habit will help you with every return.
How much should you set aside for income tax and contributions?
No employer withholds tax from your fees. So you pay what you owe on your profit yourself: during the year, through instalment payments (partial payments made in advance), or the following spring.
The amount isn't limited to income tax. In Quebec, instalments also cover your contributions, if applicable. These are contributions to the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) and the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP). Add to that the Health Services Fund and the Quebec prescription drug insurance plan.
To put numbers on these amounts with your own income, see how to estimate the income tax on your self-employment income and how much to plan for the QPP and QPIP.
Will you have to pay instalments?
You have to pay them if two conditions are met. This refers to your net tax owing: the year's tax, minus tax already withheld at source and certain refundable credits.
Quebec (Revenu Québec) | Federal (CRA), if you live in Quebec | |
|---|---|---|
Condition 1 | Estimated net tax owing for the current year over $1,800 | Net tax owing for 2026 over $1,800 |
Condition 2 | Net tax owing over $1,800 for either of the two previous years | Net tax owing over $1,800 in 2025 or 2024 |
Payment dates | March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 | Reminders sent by the CRA in February and August |
Thresholds in effect for 2026. Outside Quebec, the federal threshold is $3,000.
In February and August, Revenu Québec sends a notice showing the amounts to pay, calculated from your previous years. If you don't receive anything, you're still responsible for working out whether you have to pay instalments.
What this means for you in your first year. If your tax was withheld from your salary until now, your net tax owing for the last two years was probably low. You may have no instalments to pay this year. The tax itself is still owed: you'll pay it all at once, no later than April 30 of the following year.
What to do. Each time a client pays you, transfer a share into a savings account set aside for income tax. Estimate that share from your actual profit, not from your sales.
What are your deadlines in Quebec?
When | What | Who |
|---|---|---|
Within 60 days after you start operating | Declaration of registration | A business operated under a name other than your own |
As soon as your sales go over $30,000 | GST and QST registration | Any business that is no longer a small supplier |
March 15, June 15, September 15, December 15 | Revenu Québec instalment payments | If both conditions above are met |
April 30 of the following year | Payment of any income tax balance | Any self-employed person who owes a balance |
June 15 of the following year | Filing your Quebec income tax return | You or your spouse ran a business |
Two details about these dates:
- the June 15 deadline applies to filing the return, not to payment: interest runs on any balance still unpaid after April 30;
- if April 30 or June 15 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline moves to the next business day.
Are you registered for GST and QST, with an annual reporting period and a fiscal year that ends on December 31? Then the same rhythm applies to your sales taxes: payment no later than April 30, return no later than June 15.
Fictional example: Camille's first year
Fictional example: the name, the business and the amounts are made up to illustrate the steps.
Camille leaves her job and launches "Atelier Brume," a website design studio, on March 1, 2026.
- March to April 2026. Her business name doesn't include her own name. She registers before the end of April, within the 60-day deadline.
- Every quarter. She adds up her sales: $3,000 in March, then $7,500, $8,000 and $9,000 in the following quarters. Her 2026 total stays under $30,000. She keeps tracking the threshold in 2027, since the calculation covers the last four quarters.
- During the year. Her 2024 and 2025 tax was fully withheld from her salary: her net tax owing for those two years was zero. So she has no instalments to pay in 2026. Each time she's paid, she sets a share aside in a separate savings account.
- Spring 2027. She pays her income tax balance no later than April 30, 2027, then files her Quebec return, with her TP-80 form, no later than June 15, 2027.
- During 2027. Suppose her net tax for 2026 is over $1,800 and her 2027 tax also looks set to go over that amount. She'll then have to pay instalments starting in 2027, on top of paying her 2026 balance. The second year can weigh more heavily on cash flow than the first.
What if you hire someone?
As soon as you pay a salary, more obligations come in. You have to withhold income tax and contributions from your employee's pay, remit these amounts to Revenu Québec and pay your own employer contributions. Plan these steps before your first hire, not after.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a separate bank account for my business?
What the tax authorities mainly ask is that you can back up your income and expenses with records and supporting documents kept for six years. An account used only for your business makes that proof much simpler. Each line on the statement then matches an invoice or a receipt, with no sorting between groceries and software. The same account also shows you, at a glance, what the business really brings in.
What is a self-employed person's NEQ?
The Quebec enterprise number (NEQ) is the identifier the Registraire des entreprises du Québec assigns to you when you register. For a person running a sole proprietorship, it starts with 22. It's tied to you, not to your business name. If you close your business and later start another one under a new name, you'll have to reuse the same number.
Can Revenu Québec explain my obligations free of charge?
Yes. Revenu Québec offers a free support program for self-employed people and small and medium-sized businesses. It takes the form of individual meetings or virtual group sessions. These sessions explain your tax rights and obligations. They don't keep your books for you, but they help you understand what's expected of you.
What if I can't pay my full balance by April 30?
File your return on time anyway, even if you can't pay it all. That way, you avoid a late-filing penalty. Interest then runs on the balance still unpaid after April 30, so paying part of it right away reduces that interest. The following year, a regular transfer to a savings account keeps you from going through the same thing again.
Get help with your first year
Alta Conseils supports self-employed people from the day they start. We keep your books every month and track the $30,000 threshold with you. Once you're registered, we prepare your GST and QST returns. At year-end, you get clear figures for your income tax return. Explore our Bookkeeping service, or tell us about your project.
