Reminder – File and pay by the tax-filing deadline to avoid interest and penalties

Most Canadian income tax and benefit returns for 2016 are due on April 30, 2017. However, since this date is a Sunday, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will consider your return to be filed on time and your payment to be made on time if received or postmarked by May 1, 2017.

Self-employed individuals and their spouses or common-law partners have until June 15, 2017, to file their returns, but if they have a balance owing to the CRA, that's still due no later than May 1, 2017.

By filing your income tax and benefit return by the deadline, you are avoiding interest and penalties on any balance owing, as well as interruptions in your benefit payments, such as the Canada child benefit, the GST/HST credit, and any related provincial or territorial benefits.

Do you have a balance owing?

There are a few ways to make a payment to the CRA. One way is to use your financial institution’s telephone or Internet banking service.

You can also pay using the CRA’s pre-authorized debit service, through My Account, which lets you:

set up a payment from your account to the CRA on a pre-set date
pay an overdue amount or make instalment payments

Another way to pay online is with the CRA’s My Payment service. You can use this service if you have online banking at a participating financial institution.

For more information about online payments, go to cra.gc.ca/payments or contact your financial institution.

Worried you can’t pay your full tax bill before the deadline?

Even if you can’t pay your balance right away, you should still file your return by the deadline to avoid a late-filing penalty.

If you can’t pay the full amount, you may be able to make a payment arrangement　with　the CRA. An agent can work with you to develop a payment plan if you are eligible. For more information, go to cra.gc.ca/paymentarrangements or call 1-888-863-8657.

Agents are available Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 7 am to 11 pm, Eastern time.

Need more information?

If you need more information at tax time, the Tax Information Phone Service (TIPS) is an automated telephone service that can help all day, every day. You can call TIPS at 1-800-267-6999. For more information, go to cra.gc.ca/tips.

If you need to speak with an agent, the CRA has extended evening and Saturday hours for individual income tax and benefit questions from February 20 to May 1, 2017. Call 1-800-959-8281. For more information, go to cra.gc.ca/extendedhours.

For more tips on getting ready to file your 2016 return, go to cra.gc.ca/getready.

-30-