Monday’s midnight tax deadline looms
Posted May 5, 2014 06:42:42 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canadians have until midnight on Monday to file their taxes after the federal government extended the deadline by five days.
The original due date was April 30, but the Heartbleed bug forced the government to shut down online filing for five days due to a security risk.
The Heartbleed bug is caused by a flaw in OpenSSL software, commonly used on the Internet to provide security and privacy. The bug affected many global IT systems in both private- and public-sector organizations and has the potential to expose private data.
Taxes must be filed before May 5 to avoid a penalty.
Those who are self-employed have an extra few days to file, with one major exception. People who are self-employed must file their taxes on or before June 16 — unless they owe money to the government.
Anyone who has a balance owing must pay on or before May 5, regardless of whether they’re self-employed or not. After May 5, penalties begin to accrue and benefits may be delayed.
The Canada Revenue Agency will charge a late penalty of five per cent of your 2013 balance owing, plus one per cent of your balance owing for each full month your return is late, to a maximum of 12 months.
The CRA also said that GST/HST credits (including any related provincial credit), Canada child tax benefit payments (including certain related provincial or territorial payments), and old age security benefit payments may be delayed if taxes are filed late.
