Taxes pay for many public services like education, health, immigrant services, roads, parks, police and fire protection. All three levels of government (federal, provincial and municipal (local)) in Canada collect taxes:

Consumer taxes: the HST, and other provincial consumer taxes;

Income tax: Employers deduct income tax from their employees’ salary and send it to the federal government. Self-employed people must calculate their income tax and pay it on their own. Every year, workers in Canada must complete an income tax return.

Property tax: Local governments send a bill for property taxes to anyone who owns a home, land or building. Find out about B.C. property tax assessments by visiting the BC Assessment website or learn about the provincial government’s property tax programs and grants available.

Personal Tax: Filing your personal income tax return is very important. The deadline to file your return is April 30th of each year.

When you file your tax return, you can qualify for tax credit programs. You can learn more about tax credits by visiting CRA's tax credits you can claim. You can file your tax return online, by mail, or by telephone. A tax professional can help you file your income tax return.

Tips for Reducing Your Taxes

• Keep all your rental receipts, as they could be useful for tax purposes.
• Ask the education centre where you are taking courses to issue you a T2202 tax receipt. Note that not all education centres can issue tax receipts.
• Keep all medical receipts (dental, prescriptions etc)
• If you donate money for charity, keep all your receipts.
• Keep all childcare and any child fitness-related receipts.
• If you made political contributions, keep all your receipts for tax purposes.
• If you are a student or are single, follow the link for additional useful tax advice.

Property Tax: Your property taxes are paid to the Municipality of Surrey. The collected taxes cover the costs of municipal services such as garbage collection and road maintenance. The amount of property tax that you pay is based upon your property assessment and current municipal tax rate.

Municipal tax rates are based upon the services you receive and the municipal budget. You can follow the links to learn how to pay for your property taxes.