Filing an income tax return every year can be daunting, especially when you consider how many important tax dates and deadlines you have to remember. To help you sort it out, I’ve compiled a list of the most important Canadian tax deadline dates for individuals and business owners.

Canadian Tax Deadlines At-A-Glance

The following table lists the various deadlines you need to be aware of during the tax season, including dates for self-employed tax filers:

Tax Deadline	Date
TFSA Contribution Room Increases	January 1, 2023
CRA NETFILE open for early filing	Feb 20, 2023
Employer T4 Deadline	Feb 28, 2023
RRSP Contribution Deadline	March 1, 2023
Personal Income Tax Filing Deadline	May 1, 2023
Personal Tax Payment Deadline	May 1, 2023
Self-Employed Tax Filing Deadline	May 1, 2023
Self-Employed Tax Filing Deadline	June 15, 2023

 

Important Tax Deadlines

Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA)

Every year, on January 1st, the Canadian government increases the contribution room for Tax Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs). While this date is irrelevant to income tax filing, the money you contribute to your TFSA is tax-sheltered, making it a notable tax-related date.

CRA NETFILE Open Date

NETFILE is the secure data transfer system the CRA uses to receive income tax returns from Canadians. NETFILE works with major online tax software programs, like TurboTax, Wealthsimple Tax, H&R Block, etc. For 2023, Canadians can file their taxes via NETFILE beginning on February 20.

Employer T4 Deadline

Employers must file T4s by February 28th and provide them to employees by this date.

Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)

The RRSP contribution deadline is on March 1st of each year. This is the last day that you can make an RRSP contribution and use it as a tax deduction for the previous tax year. RRSP contributions made after March 1st can be used for the following tax year.

Personal Income Tax Returns

Each year, individuals must file their personal income tax returns by April 30th. They must also pay any balance owing by this date. Because April 30, 2023, falls on a Sunday, the deadline for the 2022 tax year has been moved ahead one day to May 1, 2023.

Self-Employed Tax Payment and Filing Deadlines

The tax deadlines for self-employed individuals, including sole proprietors, is different than for personal taxes. The tax filing deadline isn’t until June 15th, 2023. However, if you have a tax balance owing, it must be paid by April 30th (or May 1st for the 2022 tax year). You do not want to pay your taxes after this date and incur penalties from the CRA.

Tax Installment Deadlines for Individuals

If an individual has taxes owing of more than $3000 in either of the previous two years, they may be required to pay their tax in quarterly installments. The CRA does this to prevent individuals from having to pay a large lump sum annually. The tax installment deadlines are the same for all individuals, as follows:

• March 15
• June 15
• September 15
• December 15

Corporate Tax Deadlines

The tax filing and payment deadlines for corporate taxes differ from personal taxes. If you own a corporation, you must file an income tax return for the corporation every year, whether there will be taxes owing or not.

The tax deadlines for different corporations will vary because corporations have different fiscal year ends. Generally, you must file an income tax return for your corporation within six months of your business’s fiscal year-end.

If the corporation will have taxes owing, they must be paid within two months of the end of the fiscal tax year (not necessarily the calendar year).

For example, if your fiscal year end is June 30th, then any taxes owing must be paid prior to August 31st of the same year (within two months), even though the taxes don’t need to be filed until December 31st of that year (within six months.)

Tax Installment Deadlines for Corporations

Like individual tax filers, corporations may also be required to pay income taxes in installments if they owe $3000 or more in either of the past two tax years. For corporations, installments will be monthly, although some corporations will qualify to pay in quarterly installments (more on that in a moment.)

Instead of fixed dates, your installment deadlines will depend on your corporation’s fiscal period. So, for the coming year, if your tax year runs from July 1st, 2023, to June 30th, 2024, your first monthly installment will be July 31, 2023, the end of the first month of your company’s fiscal year.

As mentioned, corporations qualify to pay their income tax in quarterly installments. To do so, the corporation must meet the following criteria:

• claimed the Small Business Deduction in the current year
• have a perfect compliance history.
• earned less than $500,000 of income

GST Filing and Payment Deadlines

Many Canadian businesses must file and pay GST that they collect throughout the year. GST filing and payment deadlines can fall on a monthly, quarterly, or annual schedule.

For monthly GST filing, the filing and payment deadline is one month after the GST reporting period.

For quarterly GST filing, the GST return and payment are also due one month after the reporting period.

For annual GST filing, the business must file and pay within three months after the reporting period.

if your business owes more than $3000 in GST/HST in either of the previous two years, you may be required to make quarterly installment payments.

Final Thoughts on Tax Filing Deadlines

It’s important to note that the Canada Revenue Agency expects individuals and businesses to adhere to the various income tax deadlines. If you fail to do so, the penalties are steep. For example, if you don’t pay your income taxes owing by the April 30th deadline, the CRA will begin charging daily compound interest as of May 1st.

If you pay taxes in installments and miss a payment deadline, you may be subject to installment penalties. Also, if you are late filing your income tax return and you owe money, you will be dinged a late-filing fee of 5% of your taxes owing, plus a 1% penalty for each full month that you don’t file your taxes after the deadline.