Government extends tax deadline to June 1

OTTAWA • Canadians will have one extra month to file their taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency, the National Post has learned. The announcement will be made Wednesday by federal ministers as part of a larger series of financial measures to assist Canadian individuals and governments through the COVID-19 pandemic.

So instead of an April 30 filing deadline for the 2020 tax season, Canadians will have until June 1 to submit their income tax return to CRA. The deadline to pay off any outstanding balances interest-free will also be extended, this time to July 31.

Businesses will also have more time to pay their taxes without paying any interest or penalties. The new deadline will be July 31 to pay any corporate taxes or make any scheduled instalment payments that would otherwise be due starting Wednesday.

Tuesday, the Quebec government announced the exact same measures for the provincial tax authority, Revenu Québec.

“It is an effective measure to inject liquidity into the economy,” provincial Finance Minister Éric Girard told reporters.

“You can expect more of the same from the federal government,” Janick Cormier, director of communications for the minister of National Revenue, told the National Post.

The Trudeau government has been hinting at a change to Canadian tax deadlines for a few days now, as a growing choir Canadian individuals, businesses and tax experts have demanded an extended tax filing deadline in the midst of drastic shutdowns related to the global COVID-19 pandemic.