Uber, DoorDash and freelance income: tax in Quebec

Delivering food for DoorDash, driving for Uber, landing freelance contracts: this money reaches your account without a single cent of tax taken off. Yet to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Revenu Québec, it is self-employment income, taxed like any other. Here, in plain terms, is what Quebec expects of you.

Self-employment income, not a salary

When an employer pays you a salary, it holds back income tax and contributions in advance: the money you receive is already "net". Platform income works the other way around. You are self-employed — your own boss in the eyes of the tax authorities — and nobody deducts anything before paying you. The CRA is clear: in the gig economy, workers are independent contractors and freelancers who must report and pay tax on all of their self-employment income. Every dollar earned on Uber, DoorDash or a freelance contract is added to your taxable income, on line 26000 of your return. One point many people miss: platforms now report your earnings to the CRA themselves. Not declaring is no longer a quiet omission — it is a gap the tax authorities can see.

Nobody withholds tax for you — set it aside

This is the number one trap of platform work. Because no tax is taken off what you collect, the full amount looks available… until the bill arrives in the spring. The survival rule fits in one sentence: set aside a share of every payment as soon as it comes in, in a separate account.

There is one more reason to be careful. A salaried worker splits contributions to the Quebec Pension Plan (the QPP, the public retirement plan) with their employer: each pays half. A self-employed worker is both employee and employer — so they pay both halves, double what a salaried worker on the same income pays. In return, they do not contribute to Employment Insurance, unless they opt in voluntarily. What you need to put aside is therefore not just about income tax: social contributions weigh on it too.

To picture the income tax that a given amount represents in Quebec — before your deductions and your particular contributions — Salarium's tool shows the brackets on a specific income.

You report the income, but you deduct your expenses

In exchange for these obligations, some good news: a self-employed worker is taxed not on everything they collect, but only on their profit. You report your income, then subtract the expenses you incurred to earn it. For a driver or courier, that can include:

• gas and vehicle upkeep, or a share of those costs;
• the phone plan used for the app;
• the commission the platform takes;
• supplies directly tied to the work.

It is this result — income minus expenses — that you enter on Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities, filed with your return. One condition, and it is firm: keep your receipts. Without a supporting document, a deducted expense will not hold up with the CRA. To see what this status changes compared with a salaried job, read our comparison of self-employed versus salaried.

GST and HST: the $30,000 rule

Do you have to charge sales tax to your clients? It all comes down to a threshold. The GST (goods and services tax) and HST (harmonized sales tax) are the federal taxes that businesses collect on the government's behalf. The CRA provides that, as long as your taxable revenue does not exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, you are a "small supplier": you do not have to register, charge or remit these taxes. As soon as you cross that threshold, registration becomes mandatory and you start collecting the tax on your sales.

Two wrinkles specific to Quebec. First, some activities — such as paid passenger transport — follow special rules: check your own case rather than assuming the threshold applies. Second, Quebec adds its own tax, the QST (Quebec sales tax), administered by Revenu Québec alongside the GST.

Instalments: paying tax four times a year

When your self-employment income grows, the CRA no longer wants to wait until year-end to be paid. It then asks for tax instalments: tax payments spread across the year, a little like the deductions an employer would make for you. You have to pay them if your net tax owing is more than $3,000 — $1,800 for a Quebec resident — for the current year and a recent year. The payments fall due four times a year, on fixed dates:

Below that threshold, a single payment when you file your return is enough. Our article on instalments for the self-employed explains how to estimate the amount to set aside.

Habits that keep a platform worker on track

Platform work offers flexibility, but it hands you everything an employer used to handle for you: setting tax aside, contributing, keeping your books. One simple habit — reserving a fixed share of every payment and noting every expense — is enough to avoid a nasty surprise. And to know what a contract really earns once these costs are taken out, see how to work out your true hourly rate.