Tax Deadlines for Individuals
The following are important dates to watch for. Be sure to mark these down in your calendar!
When the deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday, CRA will consider the return/payment filed on time if they receive it on the first business day after the deadline.
January 10 or 15 – Source deduction remittance deadline for pay period ending December 31 for qualifying small businesses (See understanding source deductions for the dates and the frequency of your remittances throughout the calendar year)
February 28 – T4, T4A, T5 filing deadline
March 1 – Last day to contribute to RRSP for the previous calendar year
March 31 – Family trust return deadline
April 15 – United States Personal Income Tax returns due
April 30 – Canadian Personal Income Tax returns due for taxes owing for the previous year
June 15 – Sole proprietor tax returns due
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s move forward to the deadlines that vary depending on your corporate year end date.
TAX DEADLINES FOR CORPORATIONS
3 months after your corporate year end – HST return and payment for previous fiscal year
2 or 3 months after your corporate year end – Corporate tax balance due date (For most CPA4IT clients the deadline is 3 months after year end. From this deadline you will begin to accrue interest at
5 % on any outstanding corporate taxes).
The balance due date is the date you have to pay the remainder of the tax you owe for the tax year. Generally, all corporation taxes (with the exception of a few under the Income Tax Act) are due two months after the end of the tax year.
However, the balance of tax is due three months after the end of the tax year if:
- The corporation is a Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC) throughout the tax year; and
- The corporation claimed the small business deduction for the current or previous tax year; and
- The corporation’s taxable income for the previous tax year does notexceed its business limit for that tax year (if the corporation is not associated with any other corporation during the tax year); or
- The total of the taxable incomes of allthe associated corporations for their last tax year ending in the previous calendar year does not exceed the total of their business limits for those tax years (if the corporation is associated with any other corporation during the tax year).
6 months after your corporate year end – Corporate income tax return (T2) deadline
If your corporation’s tax year falls on the last day of the month (as in most cases), file the return by the last day of the sixth month after your year end date.
Examples
- If your tax year ends on March 31, your filing due date is September 30.
- If your tax year ends on August 31, your filing due date is February 28.
- If your tax year ends on September 30, your filing due date is March 31.
If you file your return late, a penalty applies. The penalty is 5% of the unpaid tax that is due on the filing deadline, plus 1% of this unpaid tax for each complete month that the return is late, up to a maximum of 12 months.
