Tips to make your tax season smoother
Register your CRA account
Did you know you can register for access to your CRA account online? There you can access copies of your tax slips and notice of assessments as well as other information you may need. Visit the Canada Revenue Agency website to register your online account today by going through your bank provider or using information from your latest tax return.
CRA authorization
You can sign an authorization for your tax consultant (Andrew Williams) to access your CRA account. This is a great tool that allows us to make sure we have all the information the Canada Revenue Agency has for you, which helps stop any unpleasant tax filing surprises and makes sure you get the most out of your filing. Often people forget about certain slips and information that needs to be provided or they may not have even received it but the CRA has, so through access to your account those forgotten or missing slips can be found. Something else to keep in mind is that you grant this access and you can take it away if you ever want to.
Tax Deadline Information
The regular filing deadline is April 30th unless you are reporting self-employment income, which extends your filing deadline to June 15th.
Penalties and interest are levied only if you file late AND pay late. If you can't file on time, consider making an estimated payment to cover what you owe BEFORE the deadline and you won't be charged either penalties or interest.
Penalties for late filing are much more significant than interest charges.
For example, if you owe $5,000 and file one day late, you will be charged a 5% penalty, or $250. For every subsequent month (to a maximum of twelve months) that you don't file, the penalty is increased by 1%, or $50. The interest that gets added is currently at an annual rate of 5%, or $0.68/day in this example. So if you don't file and you don't pay for a year, the penalty would be 17% of $5,000, or $850 and the interest charge would be $250.
Again, penalties for late filing are much more significant than interest charges. If you can't pay on time, you should still file on time to avoid the penalty!
If you are in a refund position, then you effectively have no deadline as there will be no penalty or interest charged. That said, we get that you probably want your refund. As we approach the April 30th deadline, we trust that you understand that we have to prioritize those who are exposed to late charges so no one pays a penalty.
The upshot to all of this is that if you or your spouse/common-law partner are reporting self-employment income OR your expect to be in a refund position you do not have to file by April 30th.
See here for more information about interest and penalties for late filing and/or payment: