Your business rides in a camera bag: bodies, lenses, lighting, an editing rig — and a car that gets you to shoots. Most of that isn't a simple "expense," it's depreciable property with its own rules. Here's the photographer's map of the T2125.
Session fees, wedding packages, print sales, licensing — it's all gross business income on Form T2125, including deposits once they're earned. Nothing is withheld for you, so tax, CPP, and possibly quarterly instalments come out of what you invoice:
Calculate my tax bill → Do I owe quarterly instalments?
Where a photographer's real spending lands on the T2125 (line names follow the CRA's T4002 guide — the same canon as our T2125 line reference):
| What you paid for | Where it goes | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Editing subscriptions (Adobe etc.), gallery hosting, cloud backup | 8810 — Office expenses | Recurring software is a current expense; software bought outright is CCA (below). |
| Studio rent | 8910 — Rent | A rented studio goes here. A home studio goes through Part 7 instead — don't double up. |
| Driving to shoots | 9281 — Motor vehicle expenses | Claimable by business-use share — a km logbook is the evidence the CRA expects. Parking for shoots is claimable too. |
| Second shooters, retouchers | Part 3 (subcontracts), not Part 4 | Subcontracts reduce gross income in Part 3 — a very common misfiling. |
| Props, backdrops, prints, albums for clients | Part 3 (cost of goods sold) or 8811 — supplies | Goods that become the client's product belong in cost of goods sold; consumables used up in shoots are supplies. |
| Gear insurance | 8690 — Insurance | Equipment and liability policies for the business. |
| Portfolio ads, Instagram promotion | 8521 — Advertising | Includes paid placement and portfolio-site promotion costs. |
| Client meals (consults, weddings) | 8523 — Meals & entertainment | The 50% rule applies — track the full amount, claim half. |
| Home editing space | T2125 Part 7 | Calculated last, can't create a loss. See the Part 7 walkthrough. |
The free expense tracker logs all of this against the right lines through the year, and the categorizer sorts a season of bank transactions in minutes.
Equipment is claimed through capital cost allowance in Area A of the T2125, not as a one-shot expense. From the CRA's classes of depreciable property (verified July 5, 2026):
Run your own numbers through the GST/HST registration calculator — and if you're registered, the quick method calculator checks whether the simplified method saves you money.
Gear receipts, a km logbook, and a clean expense log are what make every claim above stick. The deadline calendar puts filing and instalment dates on your phone so the June wedding rush doesn't eat the June 15 filing deadline.
Fill out my T2125 for me — free →
Usually not in full — cameras, lenses and lighting are Class 8 property (20% a year, declining balance). Your editing computer is the exception: Class 50 with a 100% first-year deduction available under the enhanced rules for property acquired after April 15, 2024 and in use before 2027.
If you're registered (mandatory once you pass $30,000 in taxable sales over four calendar quarters), yes — photography services to Canadian clients are taxable at your province's rate.
541920 — photographic services — fits client photography of all kinds under NAICS 2022. Independent artists selling their own artistic photographs are classed under 711511; pick what matches your main activity.
Yes — motor vehicle expenses (line 9281) by business-use share, with a logbook as evidence. See our vehicle expenses guide for the full method.
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Estimates and general information only, for planning purposes — this does not constitute tax, legal or accounting advice, and your facts may change the answer. Consult a tax professional about your situation. GST/HST registration rules verified against CRA GST/HST Memorandum 2-2 and CCA classes verified against the CRA's classes of depreciable property page on July 5, 2026; industry codes verified against Statistics Canada NAICS 2022 on July 5, 2026. T2125 line names follow the CRA T4002 guide.