The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has announced an additional extension to the payment deadline for 2019 taxes, originally extended to September 1 in the context of COVID-19. In addition, the government is extending interest relief on taxes owing.

More specifically, the CRA is extending the payment-due date for individual, corporate and trust taxes, including instalment payments, from September 1, 2020 to September 30, 2020. Penalties and interest will not be charged if payments for current-year tax returns are made by the extended deadline of September 30, 2020.

The previously-extended deadlines for individual, corporate and trust income-tax returns remain unchanged. However, recognizing the difficult circumstances resulting from the pandemic, the CRA will not impose late-filing penalties where a individual, corporation or trust return is filed late, provided it is filed by September 30, 2020.

The CRA encourages everyone to file their individual, corporate and trust returns as soon as possible, even though payment deadlines are being extended. This is particularly important for individuals receiving benefits/credits such as the Canada Child Benefit, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the GST Tax Credit.

Many of the government benefits/tax credits Canadians receive are calculated in June of every year for payment starting July 1. These benefits/tax credits are based on tax forms filed by the usual April 30 deadline. However, to ensure Canadians could continue to receive their regular benefit/tax-credit payments from July 2020, even if they only filed their taxes by September 1, 2020 (the originally-extended tax-filing deadline), the government extended payments of benefits/tax credits at existing levels to September 30. However, if 2019 individual tax returns are not received and assessed by early September, these extended payments of benefits/tax credits will cease in October 2020, and individuals may have to repay amounts issued as of July 2020 if they are no longer found to be eligible based on their 2019 return.

The CRA is also waiving interest on existing income taxes owed by individuals, corporations and trusts from April 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020 and from April 1, 2020, to June 30, 2020 for GST/HST remittances owing. While this measure does not cancel penalties and interest already assessed on amounts owing prior to April 1, it ensures that a existing tax debt does not continue to grow through interest charges over these designated periods.