Non Profit Tax Filing Requirements

For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline is 30 April 2026. If you or your spouse were self-employed, the filing deadline moves to 15 June 2026, but any balance owing is still due 30 April 2026. Interest starts the day after the payment deadline, and a late-filing penalty applies on top when a return with a balance owing is filed late. File on time even with nothing owing, because income-tested benefits are recalculated from the filed return.

File a T1 return for the year, sending it electronically with CRA-certified software or mailing a paper return. Gather your slips and receipts first and check them against the ones listed in My Account. For the 2025 tax year the filing and payment deadline was 30 April 2026, or 15 June 2026 to file if you or your spouse were self-employed, with payment still due 30 April 2026. CRA online filing for 2025 returns closes 29 January 2027.

A tax return is the annual filing that reports your income, deductions and credits to the CRA so the final tax for the year can be settled. Payers withhold tax during the year and the return reconciles that against what you actually owe, producing either a refund or a balance to pay. For 2025 returns filed in 2026, refunds usually arrive in about two weeks for an online return, while a paper return runs on a considerably longer standard because it is handled manually.

Most people file electronically with software the CRA approves for NETFILE, or have a preparer send the return through EFILE. Paper filing is still accepted and takes far longer to process. Before starting, set up My Account, confirm your direct deposit details, and download the slips the CRA already holds so your return matches its records. For the 2025 tax year the deadline was 30 April 2026, with any balance owing due the same day; a 2025 return not yet filed is late, so file it now to stop the late-filing penalty growing.

As the rules stand for the 2025 tax year filed in 2026, the late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% of that balance for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months, so 17% at worst. It rises to 10% plus 2% per month for up to 20 months, a 50% maximum, but only where the CRA formally demanded the return and had already charged a late-filing penalty for any of the three preceding tax years. Interest compounds daily.

EI benefits are taxable income. Service Canada withholds income tax before each payment reaches you, and the total benefits plus the tax withheld appear on your T4E for the year. That withholding follows a basic calculation rather than your full marginal rate, so people who also worked during the year often end up with a balance owing at filing. Asking Service Canada to withhold more, or setting money aside yourself, avoids a surprise. Higher-income claimants can also have to repay part of their regular benefits through the return.

Contact your municipality’s tax or revenue office and ask for a reissued bill; most cities also let you view and pay it in an online property tax account set up with your roll number. Not receiving the bill does not cancel the obligation or stop late-payment charges, so ask for the amount and due dates straight away. Update your mailing address, and check whether your lender already pays the tax through your mortgage.

Federal income tax, GST/HST and excise duties flow into general revenue, which funds transfers to the provinces for health care and social programmes, benefits such as the Canada child benefit and old age security, defence, federal departments and interest on the public debt. Provincial income and sales taxes fund schools, hospitals and municipal transfers. Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance premiums sit in separate accounts and are not part of general revenue. The federal budget publishes the yearly split.

Payments to a babysitter, nanny, daycare or day camp usually qualify as child care expenses when the care allowed you to work, run a business or attend school. The claim normally goes to the lower-income spouse, is capped by that spouse's earned income and by per-child ceilings that vary with the child's age, and needs receipts showing the caregiver's name, address and social insurance number. Overnight camps and boarding schools follow separate weekly limits.

File on time anyway, then deal with the balance separately, because the late-filing penalty is avoidable even when the payment is not. The CRA accepts payment arrangements, where you propose instalments you can meet and usually disclose income and expenses to support them. Interest keeps running, so pay what you can immediately and arrange the remainder. Where penalties and interest built up through illness, disaster or CRA delay, Form RC4288 asks for taxpayer relief. A free 15-minute consultation can help you choose the route.