It’s that time of the year where individuals have received their slips (should have been received by February 28th, 2017)and the RRSP deadline (March 1, 2017) has passed. People are in the process of gathering all their documents that are required for preparing and filing their 2016 income tax returns. Here are some important dates for individuals and businesses to note for filing their returns.
Individuals
Income tax returns for most individuals should be filed and, any tax owing, paid to the CRA by April 30th of the subsequent year in order to avoid any interest and penalties. If you owe tax for the year and do not file your return on time, you will incur a late-filing penalty of 5% of the balance owing, plus 1% of the balancing owing for each full month your return is late, to a maximum of 12 months. If it is a second offense in the last several years, the penalty can be doubled to 10% of the balance owing, plus 2% of the balance owing, to a maximum of 20 months. In addition to the penalty there is daily compounded interest charged starting May 1st, 2017. For 2016, get your personal taxes prepared and filed by April 30th, 2017.
Individuals and their spouses with business income
If either you or your spouse/common-law partner have carried on business in 2016, you have until June 15th, 2017 to file both income tax returns. However, if there is a balance owing, then it must be settled before April 30th, 2017 to avoid interest charges.
Corporations
Corporations should file their returns no later than six-months after the end of their tax year. If the tax year-end is December 31, 2016, the return should be filed by June 30, 2017. Any tax balance due by the corporation should be remitted within two month after year-end (February 28 for December 31 year-ends). However, for Canadian-controlled private corporation (CCPC), the due date may be extended to three-months after year-end (March 31 for December 31 year-ends).
Please contact us with any questions about due date or other accounting and tax related question.