Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
A Canada Revenue Agency tax return is the yearly form where you report your income, claim deductions and credits, and settle what you owe or get back. For 2025, the due date was April 30, 2026 for most people, and June 15, 2026 if you or your spouse or common-law partner ran a business. What you owe was still due April 30 either way.
What goes on the return?
Everything you earned in the year, first. Employment income comes from your T4 slips, and other slips cover interest, dividends, pensions and benefits. Self-employed people add business income, and someone who sold shares or a rental property reports the gain.
Then come the deductions, which reduce your income before tax is worked out, and the credits, which cut the tax itself. RRSP contributions are the usual deduction. Donations, tuition and medical costs are common credits. The tax credits calculator gives a federal estimate, though it doesn’t cover provincial credits.
Slips mostly arrive by the end of February. If one hasn’t come by the end of March, the CRA says to contact whoever should have sent it. Don’t just shrug and file without it. The CRA gets its own copy of most slips, so a missing T5 for a few bucks of bank interest can still trigger a letter months later.
The dates and penalties on one page
| Item | 2025 return |
|---|---|
| Filing and payment, most people | April 30, 2026 |
| Filing, self-employed (or spouse of one) | June 15, 2026 |
| Payment, self-employed | April 30, 2026 |
| RRSP deadline for deducting on this return | March 2, 2026 |
| Late-filing penalty | 5% of what you owe, then 1% more for every complete month, capped at a year |
| Repeat late-filing penalty | 10% of what you owe, then 2% for every complete month, capped at 20 months |
| Interest on unpaid tax | Compounded daily from the day after the due date |
The dates for 2026 returns aren’t posted yet, so check the CRA’s page in the new year before you plan around them.
Do you have to file if you owe nothing?
Often, yes. That’s the part people skip. The CRA’s line is that you file every year to get and keep the benefit and credit payments you’re entitled to. Someone with little or no income can still miss out on money by not filing. Rules about who must file have a few edges, so if you’re unsure, filing costs nothing and closes the question.
Picture Dana, a student in Halifax who earned $3,000 one summer and figured it wasn’t worth the bother. Filing would have set up her GST/HST credit and shown her unused tuition amount, which carries forward to a later year. Skipping it saved her an evening and cost her more than that.
What does a Canada Revenue Agency tax return come to on $85,000?
Here’s a real case. An Ontario employee with $85,000 of income has taxable income of $83,873 after the basic credits the tool applies. The income tax calculator shows federal tax of $10,226.60 and Ontario tax of $5,324.46, so $15,551.05 in all. That’s an average rate of 18.3%. CPP and EI take another $5,769.52, leaving $63,679.43.
The average rate isn’t what your next dollar costs. For that, open the marginal tax rate calculator.
Now compare that with what your employer withheld all year. If it took more than the tax you owe, you get a refund, and the tax refund calculator shows the gap. If you’re self-employed and no one withholds anything, read about tax instalments.
What comes back once the return is in?
Once the CRA has processed your return, it issues a notice of assessment. You can see it in your CRA account, where you can also check the return’s status and pay a balance. Keep the notice, because it shows things like your RRSP room, and when you file next spring you can check that the numbers on it match the ones you carried over in your own records before you send anything.
Keep your receipts too. The CRA’s guidance is to keep your tax documents and records for at least six years, even when you filed online and nothing had to be attached. If you find a mistake after filing, don’t just leave it. The CRA has a process for changing a return, and it’s better to use it than to hope nobody looks.
Where people go wrong
Filing before every slip has arrived is one, and it means a corrected return later when the missing T5 or T4A turns up in March. Guessing a deduction is another. And then there’s forgetting to file at all in a year with no income, which quietly stops some payments.
If you owe money and can’t pay, file on time anyway. The penalty is worked on what you owe, and it grows every month you wait. Filing on time at least keeps the bigger late-filing charge off the table, and you can sort out a payment plan with the CRA separately.
Sources, and how we checked them
Dates and penalties come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s 2026 filing-season and late-filing pages. The RRSP date is from the CRA’s important dates for the 2025 tax year. The worked figures come from this site’s calculators, which use 2026 tax data. This site is independent and isn’t connected to the CRA or any government.
Frequently asked questions
When was the 2025 tax return due?
April 30, 2026 for most people. If you or your spouse or common-law partner is self-employed, filing was due June 15, 2026, but payment was still due April 30.
What is the penalty for filing late?
You pay 5% of what you owe plus 1% for each complete month, to a cap of 12 months. Repeat offenders pay 10% plus 2% a month, to a cap of 20.
Do I need to file if I have no income?
The CRA says filing yearly is how you get and keep benefit and credit payments, so it usually pays to file.
Where do I find my notice of assessment?
In your CRA account, which also shows your return status and lets you pay a balance.
How much tax is on $85,000 in Ontario?
Our calculator shows $15,551.05 in federal and Ontario income tax, an average rate of 18.3%. CPP and EI are extra.
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