Being a responsible Canadian comes with the duty of paying income tax. Everyone should have the basic information about tax filing and how to get started and NETFILE taxes timely.
Whether you are self-employed, an immigrant, or a student, it’s a good idea to be prepared for tax filing for the following year.
The Tax Deadline in Canada
The personal income tax filing date is April 30 for most Canadians. If April 30 falls on a non-working day, next business day becomes the tax filing deadline date. For tax year 2022, tax filing deadline is May 1, 2023. For self-employed Canadians, the deadline to file tax returns is June 15, 2023.
Why is tax filing deadline important?
Tax filing deadline is important for multiple reasons:
- Penalty for tax owing: If you owe income tax to Canada Revenue Agency, you must file your income tax return by the due date to avoid late-filing penalty. Late-filing penalty is 5% of your tax owing for 2022. If CRA charged you a late-filing penalty for any of previous 3 years and requested a formal demand for your return, your late-filing penalty will be 10% of your tax owing.
- Interest on tax owning: If you have a balance owing for the tax year 2022 and you are unable to pay by May 1, 2023, CRA will start charging you compound interest as of May 2, 2023. Rate of interest can change every 3 months as per prescribed rate. It is important that you pay your income tax due before the deadline to avoid interest cost and penalty on your due amount.
- Benefit and credit payment: All child and family benefits including GST/HST credit, Ontario Trillium benefit, Canada workers benefits, Climate action incentive payment are calculated based on your income tax return. You must submit your tax return by the due date to avoid any delay in your benefit payment.
- Claim your tax refund early: If you are expecting a refund from CRA, there is no reason to wait till the tax filing deadline. You can file your tax return once you have all the required documents and claim your tax refund immediately.
- Prevent delay in processing: Early filers prevent delay in processing. If you don’t want to wait for an extended period, file the taxes in time to prevent delays in processing.
How do I know if I owe taxes or getting a refund
FastnEasyTax provides 2 simple ways to calculate your tax return for free and find out if you owe taxes or you are going to get a refund for this tax year –
- Quick income tax calculator – You can use our simple calculator without creating an account to estimate your tax refund or tax owing based on your net income.
- Complete tax calculation – Create an account for free and use the CRA certified tax filing program to estimate your return. You can find out if you owe tax or you will get a refund for free.