MEDICINE HAT, AB – It’s the end of April and that means you may be busy crunching numbers, as income tax returns are due tomorrow.
If you owe Revenue Canada, filing on time helps you avoid interest and additional penalties.
Accountant Dylan Anderson says there are a number of options to pay outstanding balances.
“The original way would be to write a cheque and mail it in,” explained Anderson. “If you actually want to get the funds in their hands immediately, you can go ahead and go online through your online banking and search Canada Revenue Agency and just pay through there. The other way is to actually get a remittance form, you can get one from us for example, go down to the bank and pay directly at the bank.”
Anderson says if you can’t pay the full amount owing, you should still file tomorrow to avoid a late penalty.
“If you miss your filing deadline, there’s a 5% penalty based on your taxes. So, if you owe $100 in taxes, you’ll have a $5 penalty, plus you’ll have a 1% penalty every month after that you’re late. In addition, you get a 6% interest charge on those taxes you do. So, if you wait a whole year to file, you could be looking at upwards of 17% for a tax penalty and interest.”
If you need more information at tax time, the Tax Information Phone Service (TIPS) is an automated telephone service that can help all day, every day. You can call TIPS at 1‑800‑267‑6999.
For additional information on tax-season, click here.
