Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Most people have to file their 2026 return and pay any balance by April 30, 2027 (for 2025 it was April 30, 2026). If you or your spouse run a business, the filing date moves to June 15, 2027 (June 15, 2026 for 2025), but the payment date doesn’t move at all. So taxes due in Canada depend on which of those two things you’re doing: filing or paying.
What are the taxes due dates in Canada?
The table shows the 2025 return, which is now past. For the 2026 return the dates are April 30, 2027 to file and pay, and June 15, 2027 to file if you or your spouse are self-employed (payment is still due April 30, 2027). Check the CRA page before you plan around them.
| What | Date (2025 return) |
|---|---|
| File, most people | April 30, 2026 |
| Pay any balance owing | April 30, 2026 |
| File, you or your spouse or partner self-employed | June 15, 2026 |
| Pay the balance, self-employed | April 30, 2026 |
| Instalments for the current year | March 15, June 15, September 15, December 15 |
The CRA’s own due dates page puts the self-employed date this way.
June 15, 2026: Deadline to file your taxes if you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed
Due dates and payment dates, Personal income tax, canada.ca
Weekends matter too. If April 30 or June 15 falls on a Saturday, a Sunday or a CRA-recognized holiday, the CRA treats a return received on the next business day as on time.
Does the June 15 date give me more time to pay?
No.
This catches people every year. The self-employed extension is for paperwork only, and the CRA says a balance owing is due on or before April 30. If you file on June 10 and owe money, the tax was already late on May 1.
The CRA page didn’t spell out when interest starts, so we won’t quote a rate or a start date here. Look at the payment page on canada.ca for the current interest rate before you decide to delay a payment.
What do you owe? A worked example
Say you’re self-employed in Ontario and cleared $60,000 in net business income. Our self-employed tax calculator puts income tax at about $7,879 and CPP at $6,724 (both halves, because you’re paying as employer and employee). That’s around $14,600 in all, and it’s due April 30 even though your return isn’t due until June 15.
The tool leaves out EI, since self-employed people usually aren’t in it, and it doesn’t add anything for HST or for expenses you haven’t entered. Treat the total as a ballpark, and park part of every invoice in a separate account so April doesn’t hurt. If you’d rather see how your own numbers land, the income tax calculator takes wages, dividends and gains as well.
What if you can’t pay the full amount by April 30?
File anyway. Filing on time and paying late is a smaller problem than doing neither, because the paperwork deadline is the one you can still hit. Then deal with the balance quickly: the CRA offers payment arrangements, and it’s much easier to ask before a collections letter shows up than after. Our page on dealing with the CRA explains how letters and payment plans work. Picture Marcus in Regina, who owes $1,800 and can only manage part of it this month. He files by April 30 and phones about a plan rather than letting the return slide.
Who has to pay instalments?
You do if your net tax owing is more than $3,000 ($1,800 in Quebec) in the current year and was also over that in either of the two years before. That’s how the CRA words it for 2026. The four dates in the table above then apply, except for farmers and fishers, who have a single date on December 31.
Employees with a big side income and retirees with little tax taken off their pensions land here more often than you’d think. Run the tax instalments calculator to see four equal payments, and remember it only models that one option.
Mistakes that cost money
Filing late when you owe nothing sounds harmless, and mostly it is. But a late return can interrupt payments tied to it, such as the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit and Old Age Security, and the CRA warns about exactly that. File on time even with a zero balance.
The other mistake is assuming a refund is coming. Check with the tax refund calculator before you spend it. And if your spouse runs a business, the June date covers you too. For all the key dates laid out by month, our tax calendar is easier to scan than a paragraph.
Where this information comes from
The dates come from the Canada Revenue Agency pages on filing due dates for the 2025 return and on required instalments. Tax figures in the example come from our calculators, which use the 2026 federal and Ontario tables. Confirm the 2026 return dates on the CRA page when it posts them. No level of government runs or endorses this site.
Frequently asked questions
When are taxes due in Canada?
For the 2025 return, April 30, 2026 for most people, both to file and to pay. The 2026 dates aren't published yet.
Is the self-employed deadline June 15 for payment too?
No. You can file by June 15, 2026, but any balance owing is due April 30, 2026.
What if the due date is on a weekend?
The CRA treats your return as on time if it arrives on the next business day.
When are tax instalments due?
March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. Farmers and fishers have one date, December 31.
Do I have to file if I owe nothing?
Filing on time still matters, because late returns can hold up benefits such as the GST/HST credit and the Canada Child Benefit.
- How Canadian income tax works: brackets and credits
How federal and provincial Canadian income tax stack up, what marginal and average rates mean, and how credits and deductions change your bill