Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Most people file their 2026 return and pay any balance by April 30, 2027. If you or your spouse run a business, the filing date moves to June 15, 2027, but the payment date does not move. Taxes due in Canada depend on which of those two things you are doing: filing or paying.
What are the taxes due dates in Canada?
The table shows the 2025 return, which is now past, next to the usual dates for the 2026 return: 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). The CRA's 2027 deadlines page for businesses and the self-employed, posted in October 2026, confirms the June 15 and April 30, 2027 dates. April 30, 2027 for other filers follows the same rule.
| What | Date (2025 return) | Date (2026 return) |
|---|---|---|
| File, most people | April 30, 2026 | April 30, 2027 |
| Pay any balance owing | April 30, 2026 | April 30, 2027 |
| File, you or your spouse or partner self-employed | June 15, 2026 | June 15, 2027 |
| Pay the balance, self-employed | April 30, 2026 | April 30, 2027 |
| Instalments for the current year | March 15, June 15, September 15, December 15 | Same dates each year |
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.
Interest starts the day after the due date and compounds daily on whatever is unpaid. The prescribed rate on overdue income tax is 7% for October 1 to December 31, 2026, and the CRA resets it every three months. Late filing adds its own penalty: 5% of the balance plus 1% for each full month late, up to 12 months. Our guide to Canada tax day has a worked example.
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 in My Account you can schedule a series of payments for personal income tax debt. It is 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
Checked in November 2026 on canada.ca: the CRA's important dates for individuals, required tax instalments, prescribed interest rates, the CRA 2027 tax deadlines for businesses and the self-employed and late-filing penalties. The example uses our calculators with the 2026 federal and Ontario tables. Confirm the 2026 return dates on the CRA page when it posts them.
Frequently asked questions
When are taxes due in Canada?
For the 2026 return, April 30, 2027 for most people, both to file and to pay. The 2025 return was due April 30, 2026. The CRA had not printed the 2027 dates in November 2026, so the 2027 dates follow the usual rule and should be confirmed.
Is the self-employed deadline June 15 for payment too?
No. For the 2026 return you can file by June 15, 2027, but any balance owing is still due April 30, 2027. Interest runs from May 1 on what is unpaid, even if your return is filed in June. Filing after the deadline adds its own penalty: 5% of the balance plus 1% for each full month late, up to 12 months.
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 after a Saturday, Sunday or CRA-recognized holiday. April 30, 2027 is a Friday and June 15, 2027 is a Tuesday, so the weekend rule does not apply to either date.
When are tax instalments due?
March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. You generally need them if your net tax owing is over $3,000 ($1,800 in Quebec) this year and in either of the two years before. Farmers and fishers have one date, December 31.
What happens if I file late?
If you owe tax, the penalty is 5% of the balance plus 1% for each full month late, up to 12 months, and interest runs on top. If you owe nothing there is no penalty, but benefits such as the GST/HST credit can stall until the return arrives.
- 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