CRA Extends Filing and Payment Due Dates

In order to provide greater flexibility to Canadians who may be experiencing hardships during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Canada Revenue Agency will defer the filing due date for the 2019 tax returns of individuals, including certain trusts. A summary appears below.

Please note that while we endeavour to update due dates in TaxCycle as information changes, please refer to Income tax filing and payment dates: CRA and COVID-19 for the latest information on these measures.

Due Dates for Taxpayers

• For individuals (other than trusts), the return filing due date will be deferred until June 1, 2020. However, the Agency encourages individuals who expect to receive benefits under the GSTC or the Canada Child Benefit not to delay the filing of their return to ensure their entitlements for the 2020-21 benefit year are properly determined.
• For trusts having a taxation year ending on December 31, 2019, the return filing due date will be deferred until May 1, 2020.
• The deadline to pay any balance due for individual income tax and benefit returns for 2019 has been extended from April 30, 2020 to September 1, 2020. This means no penalties or interest will be assessed if the balance due is paid by September 1, 2020.

Due Dates for Businesses

The deadline for businesses to pay any income tax amounts that become owing or due after March 18, 2020 and before September 1, 2020 has been extended to September 1, 2020. This means businesses will not be assessed any penalties or interest if their balance due is paid by September 1, 2020. The return filing due date remains at 6 months after the tax year end.

Alberta Finance also announced that corporate income tax balances and instalment payments will be deferred from March 19 until August 31, 2020. The return filing due date remains at 6 months after the tax year end. Please see the Alberta COVID-19 support for employers and employees page.

Electronic Signatures

In order to reduce the necessity for taxpayers and tax preparers to meet in person during this difficult time, and to reduce administrative burden, effective immediately the Canada Revenue Agency will recognize electronic signatures as having met the signature requirements of the Income Tax Act, as a temporary administrative measure. This provision applies to authorization forms T183 or T183CORP, which are forms that are signed in person by millions of Canadians every year to authorize tax preparers to file taxes.