CRA Tax Deadlines 2026 & 2027

For most individuals, the main CRA deadline is April 30, 2026 — that's when your 2025 tax return must be filed and any balance owing must be paid. If you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed, the filing deadline moves to June 15, 2026, but the payment deadline stays April 30, 2026. Other CRA deadlines that recur every year include the RRSP contribution deadline (60 days after December 31), and quarterly tax instalments on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 for anyone who owes more than $3,000 in tax two years running.

The deadline to file your 2025 personal income tax return, and to pay any balance owing, is April 30, 2026. If you or your spouse or common-law partner were self-employed in 2025, your filing deadline is extended to June 15, 2026 — but any balance owing is still due April 30, 2026, regardless of filer type.

Personal income tax returns are due April 30, 2026 for most Canadians, and payment of any balance owing is due the same day. Quebec residents file both a federal T1 return with the CRA and a provincial TP-1 return with Revenu Québec, on the same schedule. Corporations, trusts and GST/HST registrants run on different calendars tied to their own year-ends and reporting periods.

If you owe tax and file late, the CRA charges a late-filing penalty of 5% of your balance owing, plus 1% for every complete month you're late (up to 12 months). Repeat late-filers face double: 10% plus 2% per month, up to 20 months. Daily-compounded arrears interest (currently 7% a year) applies separately from the day after the balance-due day. If you're due a refund, there's no penalty for filing late — but you should still file to keep GST/HST credit, Canada Child Benefit and other payments flowing.

The RRSP contribution deadline is always 60 days after December 31 of the tax year — March 2, 2026 for contributions counted against your 2025 tax year, and March 1, 2027 for contributions counted against your 2026 tax year. Contributions made by the deadline can be deducted on that year's return even though the deadline falls in the following calendar year. Miss it and the contribution simply counts toward the next tax year instead — there's no penalty, just a delayed deduction.

Quarterly instalments are due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 every year (farmers and fishers pay a single instalment on December 31 instead). You only have to pay them if your net tax owing is more than $3,000 ($1,800 if you live in Quebec) in the current year AND in at least one of the two prior years — so most newly self-employed people don't get caught until their second or third year of higher income.

T1 is the CRA's General Income Tax and Benefit Return — the form nearly every individual files each year. The 2025 T1 (covering income earned in the 2025 calendar year) is due April 30, 2026, or June 15, 2026 if you or your spouse or common-law partner were self-employed. NETFILE, the CRA's online filing system, opens for 2025 returns on February 23, 2026.

The CRA does not grant blanket filing extensions the way some other tax agencies do. If you can't pay by the deadline, file on time anyway (that alone avoids the late-filing penalty) and then set up a payment arrangement. In genuine hardship situations — illness, natural disaster, CRA error — you can request taxpayer relief to have penalties or interest cancelled, but this is discretionary and decided case by case, not an automatic extension.