Canadian Tax Filing Deadlines 2027: Every Key CRA Date You Need to Know
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Your Guide to the 2027 Canadian Tax Season
Tax season has a way of sneaking up on business owners. One minute you’re closing out the year, the next you’re scrambling to find T4 slips and wondering whether your corporate return was due last month. The good news: every CRA deadline for the 2026 tax year is already known, so you can plan around it now.
Below is a complete rundown of the 2027 filing and payment deadlines for individuals, self-employed Canadians, corporations, trusts, GST/HST registrants and employers, plus the penalties for missing them and a checklist to get ahead of the rush. Where a deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday, the CRA treats your filing or payment as on time if it arrives on the next business day. We’ve noted those shifts where they apply in 2027.
Key Takeaways
- Personal returns: File and pay by Friday, April 30, 2027.
- Self-employed: File by Tuesday, June 15, 2027, but any balance owing is still due April 30.
- RRSP contributions: Make them by Monday, March 1, 2027 to deduct on your 2026 return.
- T4, T4A and T5 slips: Due March 1, 2027 (February 28 falls on a Sunday).
- Corporations: File six months after year-end; pay two months after year-end (three for eligible small businesses). A December 31 year-end means filing by June 30, 2027.
- Trusts and partnerships: Most returns for a December 31 year-end are due March 31, 2027.
- Penalties: Late filing costs 5% of the balance owing plus 1% per month, and interest compounds daily. Filing on time, even if you can’t pay in full, avoids the worst of it.
2027 Tax Deadline Calendar at a Glance
Here are the key dates for the 2026 tax year in chronological order. Corporate dates assume a December 31, 2026 fiscal year-end.
| Deadline | What’s due |
|---|---|
| Monday, March 1, 2027 | RRSP contribution deadline for the 2026 tax year. T4, T4A and T5 slips and summaries (Feb 28 is a Sunday). Corporate tax balance due for December 31 year-ends under the two-month rule. |
| Monday, March 15, 2027 | First quarterly personal tax instalment for 2027. |
| Wednesday, March 31, 2027 | T3 trust returns and T5013 partnership returns for December 31 year-ends. Corporate tax balance due for eligible CCPCs under the three-month rule. Annual GST/HST return for corporations with a December 31 year-end. |
| Friday, April 30, 2027 | Personal T1 filing and payment deadline. Balance owing for self-employed individuals. Annual GST/HST payment for self-employed registrants with a December 31 year-end. |
| Tuesday, June 15, 2027 | T1 filing deadline for self-employed individuals and their spouses. Second quarterly instalment. Annual GST/HST return for self-employed registrants. |
| Wednesday, June 30, 2027 | T2 corporate return filing deadline for December 31, 2026 year-ends. |
| Wednesday, September 15, 2027 | Third quarterly personal tax instalment. |
| Wednesday, December 15, 2027 | Fourth quarterly personal tax instalment. |
| Friday, December 31, 2027 | Last day for charitable donations, FHSA contributions and most other planning moves to count on your 2027 return. |
Personal Income Tax Deadlines
For most Canadians, the 2026 personal income tax return (T1) must be filed and any balance paid by Friday, April 30, 2027. The CRA typically opens NETFILE in the third week of February, and slips from employers, banks and investment firms should be in your hands, or in CRA My Account, by early March.
Registered account deadlines to watch
- RRSP: Contributions made by Monday, March 1, 2027 (the 60th day of the year) can be deducted on your 2026 return. Your 2026 limit is 18% of your 2025 earned income, up to a maximum of $33,810, less any pension adjustment, plus unused room carried forward. Check your Notice of Assessment or CRA My Account for the exact figure.
- TFSA: The 2026 dollar limit is $7,000. TFSA contributions aren’t deductible, so there’s no filing-season deadline, but unused room carries forward indefinitely.
- FHSA: Unlike the RRSP, the First Home Savings Account has no 60-day grace period. Contributions had to be made by December 31, 2026 to be deducted on your 2026 return. Contributions in early 2027 count toward 2027.
If you owe money and miss April 30, interest starts compounding daily on May 1, 2027, and the late-filing penalty applies immediately. If you’re expecting a refund, there’s no penalty for filing late, but you’re lending the government your money for free, and late filing can interrupt benefit payments such as the Canada Child Benefit and the GST/HST credit.
Self-Employed Tax Deadlines
If you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in 2026 (sole proprietorship or partnership income reported on your personal return), you both get until Tuesday, June 15, 2027 to file your T1 returns.
The catch that trips up many business owners: the payment deadline does not move. Any balance owing for 2026 is still due April 30, 2027. Interest begins accruing on May 1 on any unpaid amount, even though your return isn’t late yet. In practice, that means estimating your 2026 tax bill by the end of April and paying it, then finalizing the return by June 15.
Self-employed individuals who are registered for GST/HST and file annually with a December 31 fiscal year-end follow the same split: net tax is payable by April 30, 2027, while the return itself is due June 15, 2027.
If your net tax owing was more than $3,000 in 2026 and in either 2025 or 2024, you’ll also be expected to pay quarterly instalments through 2027 (see the instalment section below).
Corporate Tax (T2) Deadlines
Corporate deadlines are tied to your fiscal year-end rather than the calendar, so every corporation’s dates are different. Two rules cover most situations:
- Filing: The T2 corporate income tax return is due six months after your fiscal year-end.
- Payment: Any balance of tax owing is due two months after year-end. Canadian-controlled private corporations (CCPCs) that claimed the small business deduction and had taxable income of $500,000 or less in the previous year (along with a few other conditions) get three months.
Examples for common year-ends
| Fiscal year-end | Balance due (2 months / 3 months) | T2 filing deadline |
|---|---|---|
| September 30, 2026 | Nov 30, 2026 / Dec 31, 2026 | March 31, 2027 |
| December 31, 2026 | Mar 1, 2027* / Mar 31, 2027 | June 30, 2027 |
| March 31, 2027 | May 31, 2027 / June 30, 2027 | September 30, 2027 |
| June 30, 2027 | Aug 31, 2027 / Sept 30, 2027 | December 31, 2027 |
*February 28, 2027 falls on a Sunday, so the two-month payment deadline moves to Monday, March 1.
Note that interest on an unpaid corporate balance runs from the payment deadline, not the filing deadline, so a December year-end corporation that waits until June to settle up is already four months into interest charges. Most corporations are also required to pay monthly instalments during the year; eligible small CCPCs can pay quarterly.
Don’t forget the non-tax filings that come with incorporation: your annual return with Corporations Canada or your provincial registry (due within a set number of days of your incorporation anniversary), and T5 slips for any dividends paid to shareholders in 2026, which are due March 1, 2027.
Trust and Partnership Returns
Trusts (T3): A trust must file its T3 return and issue T3 slips to beneficiaries within 90 days of its tax year-end. For the vast majority of trusts, which use a December 31 year-end, that means Wednesday, March 31, 2027. Any balance owing is due the same day.
The expanded trust reporting rules remain in force, so most trusts must complete Schedule 15 (Beneficial Ownership Information) identifying settlors, trustees, beneficiaries and anyone able to exert control over the trust. Bare trusts have been exempted from filing for the past several tax years while the government reworks the rules; whether that exemption extends to the 2026 tax year should be confirmed before the March 31 deadline. If you hold property in trust for someone else, even informally, talk to us early.
Partnerships (T5013): A partnership information return is required when the partnership exceeds certain revenue and asset thresholds, has a corporation or trust as a partner, or meets other CRA criteria. Where any partner is an individual or trust, the T5013 is due March 31, 2027. If all partners are corporations, the return is due five months after the partnership’s fiscal year-end. Partners can’t finalize their own returns until they receive their T5013 slips, so partnerships should aim to file well ahead of the deadline.
GST/HST Filing Deadlines
GST/HST deadlines depend on the reporting period the CRA assigned to you (or that you elected), which is based on your annual taxable sales.
- Monthly and quarterly filers: The return and payment are both due one month after the end of the reporting period. Your October–December 2026 quarter, for example, is due at the end of January 2027 (January 31 is a Sunday, so February 1, 2027).
- Annual filers, self-employed with a December 31 year-end: Payment due April 30, 2027; return due June 15, 2027.
- Annual filers, corporations and other businesses: Return and payment due three months after the fiscal year-end. For a December 31, 2026 year-end that is March 31, 2027.
Annual filers whose net tax was $3,000 or more in the previous year must also pay quarterly GST/HST instalments, due one month after the end of each fiscal quarter.
If your business is not yet registered, remember that registration becomes mandatory once your worldwide taxable supplies exceed $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. Our guide on whether you need to register for GST/HST walks through the rules in detail.
Payroll and Information Slip Deadlines (T4, T4A, T5)
Employers and anyone who paid amounts that must be reported on an information slip face one of the earliest deadlines of the season. T4, T4A and T5 slips, and their related summaries, must be filed with the CRA and distributed to recipients by the last day of February. In 2027, February 28 falls on a Sunday, so the effective deadline is Monday, March 1, 2027.
- T4: Employment income, CPP, EI and income tax deducted for each employee.
- T4A: Fees for services, pension income, commissions to self-employed agents and other amounts.
- T5: Investment income, including dividends paid by your corporation to its shareholders in 2026.
Employers filing more than five slips of any type must file electronically. Slips must also be provided to employees and other recipients by the same date, so plan to have your 2026 payroll reconciled in January.
Payroll remittances continue on their own schedule throughout the year. Regular remitters send source deductions by the 15th of the month following the pay period; quarterly remitters (small employers with a good compliance history) remit by the 15th of the month after each quarter; larger employers remit more frequently. Late remittances attract penalties of 3% to 10% of the amount due, so this is an area where automation pays for itself. Our payroll management service handles remittances and year-end slips end to end.
Tax Instalment Due Dates for 2027
If your net tax owing (tax minus amounts withheld at source) was more than $3,000 in 2026 and in either 2025 or 2024 ($1,800 for Quebec residents), the CRA expects you to pay 2027 tax in quarterly instalments rather than in one lump sum the following April. This commonly applies to self-employed individuals, landlords, retirees drawing from investments and anyone with significant income not subject to withholding.
2027 personal instalment due dates:
- Monday, March 15, 2027
- Tuesday, June 15, 2027
- Wednesday, September 15, 2027
- Wednesday, December 15, 2027
The CRA mails (or posts to My Account) instalment reminders in February and August showing the amounts it has calculated. You can pay those amounts, or base your instalments on your prior-year or estimated current-year tax if you expect your income to be lower. If you underpay using your own estimate, instalment interest applies. Instalments that are late or short also accrue interest, and a further penalty can apply when instalment interest exceeds $1,000.
Corporations generally pay instalments monthly, due the last day of each month. CCPCs that meet the small-business conditions can pay quarterly instead.
Late Filing Penalties and Interest
Missing a deadline gets expensive quickly. Here is what the CRA charges:
- Late-filing penalty (T1 and T2): 5% of the balance owing, plus 1% for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months (17% total).
- Repeat late filers: If you were charged a late-filing penalty in any of the three previous years and the CRA has issued a formal demand to file, the penalty doubles to 10% plus 2% per month, to a maximum of 20 months (50% total).
- Interest: Compound daily interest at the CRA’s prescribed rate applies to unpaid balances starting the day after the payment deadline, and to penalties from the day after the filing deadline. The prescribed rate is set quarterly and has been well above typical savings rates in recent years.
- Information slips (T4, T4A, T5, T3, T5013): Penalties for late or missing slips range from $100 to $7,500 per slip type, scaled by the number of slips and how late they are.
- Late payroll remittances: 3% if one to three days late, 5% at four or five days, 7% at six or seven days, and 10% beyond that or for any amount never remitted.
- GST/HST: A late-filing penalty of 1% of the amount owing plus 0.25% per month for up to 12 months, plus interest.
Two points are worth repeating. First, the late-filing penalty is calculated on your balance owing, so paying an estimate by the deadline, even if the return isn’t finished, dramatically reduces the damage. Second, file on time even if you can’t pay. The CRA is far more flexible about payment arrangements than it is about unfiled returns, and filing keeps your benefit payments flowing.
How to Prepare for Tax Season Now
The businesses that sail through tax season are the ones that treat it as a year-round process rather than a spring emergency. With the 2027 deadlines in hand, here is what to do between now and the end of the year:
- Get your 2026 books current. Reconcile every bank, credit card and loan account through December 31. Clean books in January mean your accountant can file early and you know your tax bill months ahead of the payment deadline.
- Plan your year-end moves before December 31, 2026. For corporations, that includes bonus and dividend decisions, capital purchases and whether to accelerate or defer income. For individuals, it means charitable donations, FHSA contributions and tax-loss selling.
- Decide on your RRSP contribution early. You have until March 1, 2027, but knowing the number in January avoids a last-minute cash crunch.
- Reconcile payroll in January. T4s are due March 1. Catching discrepancies in January is far easier than amending slips in March.
- Set up CRA My Account and My Business Account if you haven’t already. You’ll see your slips, instalment reminders, notices and balances in one place, and can authorize your accountant to act on your behalf.
- Automate payments. Pre-authorized debit through CRA My Account, or scheduled payments through your bank, remove the risk of forgetting an instalment.
- Book your accountant now. Firms fill up fast after January. Getting on the calendar early means your return gets the attention it deserves rather than a rush job in April.
Ready for a Stress-Free 2027 Tax Season?
Deadlines are only half the battle. Knowing which ones apply to you, how much to set aside, and how to structure your year so the bill is as small as legally possible is where a good accounting partner earns their keep. Targeted Accounting works with Canadian small businesses and their owners year-round, so tax season becomes a routine checkpoint rather than a scramble.
Whether you need bookkeeping caught up before year-end, corporate tax planning and filing, or payroll and T4 support, our team can take it off your plate. Contact us today to book a consultation and get ahead of the 2027 deadlines.
This article reflects CRA deadlines and rules as of September 2026 for the 2026 tax year. Dates and thresholds are subject to change; confirm your specific obligations with your accountant.
