Side hustle income in Canada is reported on your income tax and benefit return, usually as self-employment on Form T2125 when you are carrying on your own activity, and as employment income when you are an employee. For the 2025 return, the CRA’s filing due dates page says most people file by April 30, 2026, while you generally file by June 15, 2026 if you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in 2025, and any balance owing is still due April 30, 2026.
This is general information, not tax advice. Talk to an accountant or another qualified tax professional about your own return. Rates, lines, and due dates change, and a weekend or holiday can move the day the CRA treats as on time. Confirm the year you are filing on canada.ca before you rely on a date.
How the income is taxed once it is on the return is in how much tax to set aside. Whether you must charge GST/HST is a separate test in GST/HST registration for side hustlers. The records that support the form are in record keeping for side hustles.
What counts as side hustle income you report in Canada?
Side hustle income in Canada is money you earn from the activity, including platform payouts, e-transfers, cash, tips, and deposits, and you report it even when no slip arrives. A quiet winter or a hobby label on a profile does not, by itself, remove the income from the return.
| What arrived | Where it usually goes | What to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Day-job wages with a T4 | Employment income on the T1 | The T4 is the employer’s slip, not your side hustle |
| Invoices, e-transfers, cash from your own clients | Gross income on Form T2125 | One T2125 per business |
| Gig-app payouts, including tips | Usually T2125 if you are self-employed | A T4A does not replace your own total |
| A deposit you have not finished earning | Still tracked; the method in Guide T4002 decides the year | Do not spend it as if tax were already handled |
| GST/HST you collected | Not your profit | Remit it; do not treat it as income you keep |
Guide T4002 is the CRA book that walks through business and professional income. It explains the cash method and the accrual method. Use the method that applies to your activity and stay with it. This guide does not pick a method for you.
Quebec residents file a federal return and a Quebec return. A federal T2125 does not replace the Quebec forms. If you lived in Quebec on December 31, self-employment pension contributions are Quebec Pension Plan amounts on the Quebec return, not federal line 42100.
Is a Canadian side hustle employment income or self-employment?
A side hustle in Canada is self-employment when you are carrying on your own business, and employment income when you work under the direction of a payer as an employee. The name on the app, or the word “contractor” in a message, does not decide it. The CRA’s employment status page says the status you choose has to reflect the working relationship, and that all of the facts determine status, not intention alone.
Outside Quebec, the CRA looks at factors such as control, who provides tools, whether you can subcontract or hire helpers, financial risk, responsibility for investment and management, and the chance of profit. The cancelled publication RC4110 described those factors, and the current employee or self-employed material still lists them. In Quebec, the contract is read under the Civil Code of Québec. The CRA’s determine the employment status page says the tests differ by where the contract was formed. If you and the payer disagree, either of you can ask the CRA for a CPP/EI ruling.
Step 1: Write down control, tools, and risk
An employee generally works under the payer’s direction. A self-employed person agrees to a result and chooses how to do it. If you supply the car, the software, and the unpaid time between jobs, those facts point toward a business. If the payer supplies the tools and reimburses the costs, those facts point toward employment. One factor does not settle it. A platform that can deactivate you is not automatically your employer.
Step 2: Report the income in the matching place
Employment income is the T4 world: tax is often withheld. Self-employment income goes through Form T2125, and nothing is withheld unless you arrange it. That is why June can feel like extra cash and April can be a balance owing. The set-aside guide is the cash half of that problem.
Freelance writing, food delivery, rideshare driving, and reselling are written on this site as self-employment. If an app issues a T4, report that slip as employment income and do not also put the same dollars on a T2125.
Which form reports self-employment income in Canada?
Self-employment income in Canada is calculated on Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities, and the gross and net amounts are then entered on the T1. The CRA’s completing Form T2125 page says you use the form for business and professional income, and that you complete a separate T2125 for each business if you have more than one.
The T2125 itself says to report gross business income from line 8299 on line 13499 of the return, and gross professional income on line 13699. Net business income goes on line 13500. The CRA groups these as lines 13499 to 14300. Commission, farming, and fishing use their own lines. A writing practice and a lawn route are two activities, so they are two forms, not one blended total.
Gross sales come first. Remove GST/HST you collected when the form tells a registrant to, because that tax is not income. Expenses come next, business part only. The form says not to deduct a salary you pay yourself, personal living costs, or most fines. What is deductible is side hustle expenses.
Net income is what CPP uses if you are self-employed outside Quebec. The CPP contributions page says you pay both the employee and employer shares on net business income after expenses, not on investment earnings. The 2026 ceilings are in the set-aside guide.
When do you file and pay tax on a side hustle in Canada?
For the 2025 tax year, a self-employed person in Canada generally files by June 15, 2026, and pays any balance owing by April 30, 2026. The CRA’s filing-dates page says the June 15 date also applies if your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business. If the business expenditures relate mostly to a tax shelter investment, the filing deadline is April 30, 2026, not June 15.
When a due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or CRA holiday, the filing-dates page says a return is on time if received or postmarked by the next business day, and a payment is on time if received on the first business day after the due date. The government’s 2026 tax deadlines page repeats those 2025-return dates. Confirm the page again for a later year.
Filing in June does not extend the payment date. The CRA charges interest on a balance unpaid after April 30. The rate changes, so this guide does not quote one. A payment arrangement is not a due-date extension.
Instalments are a third date set, separate from April 30 and June 15. If your net tax owing is over the threshold in the current year and in one of the two previous years, you may have to pay during the year. That threshold and the March, June, September, and December dates are in the set-aside guide, with the CRA instalment pages linked there.
How do you report platform income with no slip, or a late slip?
You report platform income in Canada from your own records of what you were paid, and you use a T4A or other slip as a check, not as the only source. The CRA can ask for the records later. A missing slip is not a reason to leave the income off.
Add every payout in the calendar year that your accounting method includes. Subtract the platform fees if they are your expenses, and keep the fee report. Tips are part of what you earned. Do not subtract personal spending that happened to come out of the same bank account.
If you drove for passengers, GST/HST registration is mandatory from the first fare even under $30,000. Food delivery and most other hustles use the small-supplier test instead. Those rules are on the registration guide. Do not put GST/HST you collected into the income you plan to spend.
FreshBooks TODO-AFFILIATE can hold client names, dates, and amounts for a services hustle. It does not file the return or decide your employment status. Wealthsimple Tax TODO-AFFILIATE and TurboTax Canada TODO-AFFILIATE can carry a T2125 into the T1. Compare the current price. Software is not an accountant. KOHO TODO-AFFILIATE can hold the amount you expect to pay so the April balance is not in the household chequing account.
What does an illustrative side hustle T2125 look like in Canada?
An illustrative T2125 in Canada is the arithmetic below. It is not a sample return, a CRA example, or a statement of what you earned.
Illustrative example. Suppose you live outside Quebec and your only side hustle in the year is freelance writing. Suppose clients paid you $9,400 by e-transfer, and you had no GST/HST registration, so you did not collect tax. Suppose a software subscription used only for the work cost $240, and a portion of your phone bill that you can tie to the work is $180. Those three numbers are assumptions. Gross income in the sketch is $9,400. Expenses are $240 + $180 = $420. Net business income in the sketch is $9,400 − $420 = $8,980. That net amount is what you would carry toward line 13500 if the activity is business income and the expenses are allowed. It is not your tax bill. CPP and income tax are calculated on the full return, after other income, deductions, and credits.
Suppose the same person was also paid $1,200 for snow clearing. That second business gets its own T2125. The snow removal side hustle guide is the work. This page is only the reporting shape.
| Line in the sketch | Amount | Why it is here |
|---|---|---|
| Gross fees | $9,400 | What clients paid, assumption |
| Software | $240 | Current expense, assumption, business only |
| Phone, business part | $180 | Personal part excluded |
| Net | $8,980 | Before CPP and income tax |
| Second hustle | $1,200 gross | Separate T2125, not added above |
Replace every figure. If a client paid a deposit in December for work you deliver in January, the year you report it depends on the accounting method in Guide T4002. Do not use this table to move a deposit into the year that feels cheaper.
What reporting mistakes are common for side hustles in Canada?
Common reporting mistakes in Canada are leaving off cash and tips, filing a second T2125 for the same dollars already on a T4, and treating June 15 as the day the balance is due. The payment date on the 2025 filing page is April 30, 2026, even when the filing date is June 15.
Other mistakes are one T2125 for unrelated activities, deducting the whole phone or the whole car, and waiting for a slip that never comes. If your spouse carried on a business, your filing date can move to June and your payment date does not.
If you are unsure whether the activity is a business at all, read tax on reselling, gig apps, and platform income before you invent a “hobby” line that the return does not have.
Which guides sit next to reporting side hustle income in Canada?
Reporting side hustle income in Canada is the form. The money you set aside is how much tax to set aside. Deductions are side hustle expenses. A desk at home is home office expenses. A car is vehicle expenses for delivery and rideshare. Freelance bookkeeping is a hustle that lives inside other people’s records, and your own fees are still your T2125.
What are the common questions?
Do I report side hustle income in Canada if I made only a small amount?
Yes. There is no minimum on the CRA self-employment pages that lets you skip reporting income because the hustle felt small. Whether tax is owing depends on your whole return, including the basic personal amount and other income. Report the income and the allowable expenses. This is not tax advice.
Is June 15 the day I have to pay tax on a side hustle in Canada?
No. For the 2025 return, the CRA filing-dates page says self-employed people generally file by June 15, 2026, and any balance owing is due April 30, 2026. Interest can apply after the payment date. Confirm the dates for the year you are filing, including the weekend rule.
What if my side hustle app sends a T4A?
Use the T4A as a check against your own payout records. If you are self-employed, the income still belongs on Form T2125, not as a second copy of the same dollars somewhere else. If the slip is missing, report the income from your records anyway.
Do I file a T2125 for each side hustle in Canada?
The CRA says to complete a separate Form T2125 for each business or professional activity. Writing and lawn care are two activities. Two writing clients are usually one writing business. If you are unsure they are separate businesses, read the form instructions or ask an accountant.
I live in Quebec. Do I only file with the CRA?
No. Quebec residents file a federal return and a Quebec return. Self-employment pension contributions are handled as Quebec Pension Plan amounts on the Quebec return. Line 42100 of the federal return does not apply if you lived in Quebec on December 31. Confirm both agencies' forms for the year.
Can I call myself self-employed if the app says contractor?
The label is not the test. The CRA looks at the working relationship. Outside Quebec the factors include control, tools, chance of profit, and risk of loss. Quebec uses the Civil Code. Either party can request a CPP/EI ruling if the status is unclear. This is not tax advice.
Which sources support this guide?
The rules, rates, and platform requirements in this guide are checked against these primary sources. Retail price ranges are labelled as ranges to verify locally, and they are not quotes.
- Filing due dates for the 2025 tax return — Canada Revenue Agency
- Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities — Canada Revenue Agency
- Completing Form T2125 — Canada Revenue Agency
- Lines 13499 to 14300 – Self-employment income — Canada Revenue Agency
- Guide T4002, Self-employed Business, Professional, Commission, Farming, and Fishing Income — Canada Revenue Agency
- Employment status: Employee or self-employed — Canada Revenue Agency
- Determine the employment status — Canada Revenue Agency
- Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan — Government of Canada
- 2026 Tax deadlines for Canadian businesses and self-employed individuals — Government of Canada