Frequently Asked Questions
You have complex questions. We’ll help you sort through them. These are answers to some of the most common questions we get from medical students and doctors. Don’t see your question here? Just reach out and we’ll be happy to answer, with zero judgement.
Most doctors consider incorporation once their income is high enough that they don’t need to spend everything they earn in the short term. In practical terms, that’s usually after residency, when you’re an attending with a healthy income and can afford to leave some earnings inside a corporation to grow.
The main advantage of incorporation is getting a lower corporate tax rate on any income you don’t withdraw personally. So if you’re just starting out and every dollar you earn goes toward living expenses or debt, incorporating likely won’t be beneficial
Each situation is unique, however. We’re happy to evaluate your specific circumstances (free of charge) and give you our honest advice. In some cases, a late-stage resident with substantial moonlighting earnings or a spouse with lower income might incorporate earlier. But by and large, incorporation only makes sense when your yearly earnings exceed your personal spending needs.
Yes, you probably should. Even if you have little to no income, filing a tax return as a medical student is often beneficial.
Why? Well, for one thing, you’re accumulating tuition credits with all your tuition fees, but you can only carry forward unused tuition credits if you file a return and report them. By filing, you ensure that you’ll be able to apply those hefty tuition credits to reduce your taxes when you’re working as a resident or physician later on.
Filing taxes as a student can also make you eligible for benefits like the GST/HST credit or provincial credits (which is free money, if your income is low enough).
So, it pays to file a return, even if you earned nothing during the previous year. It’s a simple process and CPAMD will even help you file at no cost in many cases.
The only time you might skip filing is if you truly have no income, no tuition fees paid, and don’t want to claim anything at all, but that scenario is rare for med students. Our advice: file annually to stay in good order and set yourself up for the future.
Moving to a different province can affect your taxes, but it’s not as daunting as it seems. In Canada, you file one federal tax return per year (not one per province), and you are generally taxed based on your province of residence at the end of the year. So if you moved from Alberta to Ontario during the year, whichever province you lived in on December 31st is considered your residence for that tax year.
However, you do need to account for income earned in each province along the way, effectively splitting or allocating your income to the right jurisdiction if the tax rates differ. Your tax software or accountant can handle by this by submitting a provincial allocation form, if necessary.
You might also be able to claim some of your moving expenses. If you moved at least 40 km for work (say, to start residency or a new job), you may deduct moving costs against income earned in the new location. We’ll make this easier by reminding you to keep receipts for movers, flights, lease break fees, and other expenses you’re entitled to claim.
Don’t forget to update your address with CRA when you move, and inform any medical associations or licensing bodies as well.
In short, you’ll still file one tax return after moving, but there might be a few extra steps to reflect the change. This is where CPAMD’s cross-provincial expertise comes in handy. We’ll guide you through the entire process, ensure that your T4s/RL-1s/TP slips from different provinces are entered correctly, and that you get any of the provincial credits (like Ontario Trillium) that are available to you. Before moving, you can even chat with us for a heads-up on regional differences (like credit amounts that vary from province to province).
CPAMD’s services are completely free for physicians and trainees. You pay nothing to consult with us, get matched with an accountant, or reach out for advice.
When you engage with one of our partner accountants for their services, that accountant will charge their usual fee (which we ensure is fair, and often at a discounted professional rate for med students and residents). But CPAMD doesn’t take a cut or add a surcharge.
In other words, if an accounting firm would normally charge $300 for a physician’s tax return, you pay $300 – that’s it. Not $300 plus a bit extra for us. There are no hidden fees for using our services.
In many cases, we can negotiate special deals or flat rates on behalf of our clients, or even arrange pro bono work (as with our free tax filing offer for students and residents).
Rest assured, there’s no catch. Our goal is to build a long-term relationship with you, not saddle you with any additional financial burden.
How do we keep the lights on if we don’t charge doctors or take commissions? It’s simple: we do it through partner arrangements and economies of scale. In practice, this means the accounting firms and professionals in our network contribute to the cost of running CPAMD.
They might pay an annual sponsorship or marketing fee to be part of our trusted network, or collaborate with us on educational events or charitable causes (like the awards and initiatives we sponsor). We also receive grants and support from physician organizations for our work in promoting financial literacy.
What we never do is make a commission or take a percentage of any billing from your accountant. That keeps the service entirely free for you and preserves the integrity of our service. When we refer you to an accounting professional, that decision is never influenced by who pays us more – because no one does. Our revenue model is intentionally structured so that our interests remain aligned with yours.
In summary, CPAMD makes money the way a matchmaking service or an association does. We rely on partner contributions, sponsorships, and providing value-added services at scale – none of which incur any costs for our physician clients.
We truly believe that by serving physicians well, our business will sustain itself through mutually beneficial partnerships and a positive reputation. Your trust is far more valuable to us than any commission could ever be.