Filing and paying taxes as a Canadian citizen is an inevitable part of life. Skipping out on this responsibility could mean many negative consequences down the road, so it’s best to get ahead of the deadlines and requirements as soon as possible.
You definitely don’t want to file late and owe a larger tax balance than necessary. Accruing interest, penalties and fees is no fun. Plus, late tax payments can impact your government benefits negatively—all bad things if you’ve got financial goals like getting out of debt, building wealth or both.
The good news is that you can get through the process much quicker with an online filing. If you want to know how to file taxes, this guide will help you with the basics of filing your taxes online if you live in Canada. If you need more help beyond this, be sure to engage a professional to ensure your taxes are filed correctly.
What are the benefits of filing taxes online?
Filing your taxes online can be beneficial for a few reasons. For one, you can complete the process relatively quickly and receive an almost immediate confirmation that your filing has been submitted and accepted. Electronic filing is preferred, because, well, it's not 1993.
The CRA’s mobile app allows you to view your return status, change your address, update your direct deposit information, view RRSP and TFSA contribution limits and update your marital status on your mobile device.
You could also get information about the status of your return via telephone if you have the patience for that sort of thing. However, if you don’t file electronically, it could take longer for this information to appear in your account along with related updates.
Another reason you’d want to file online is that the interfaces or online applications that file on your behalf can make the tax filing process much easier and reduce the chance of errors. For instance, software like TurboTax or Wealthsimple Tax (we're kind of partial to the latter), can help you get the most accurate results while maximizing the amount of your return. Plus, there’s no need to send in receipts with your online filing unless the CRA requests them at a later time.
Finally, filing online means you’ll get your refund faster. With direct deposit, you may receive your refund in as little as 2 weeks.
Be aware of key dates
Before you file your taxes, you should be aware of key dates:
Filing dates for 2023 taxes
April 30, 2024: Deadline to file your taxes
June 15, 2024: Deadline to file your taxes if you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed. Although that's a Saturday, so you actually have until the next business day, June 17, 2024.
Payment date for 2023 taxes
Tax payments are April 30, 2024.
Prepare supporting documentation
Much of the supporting documentation you’ll need to file your taxes online should arrive by the end of February, if not well before. If you start your online filing without this information, you'll lack basic data points and details pertaining to your income, expenses, deductions, credits, etc., and you won't be able to proceed. Some tax software will allow you to enter some information and save your return for a later time when you can enter the rest.
Here are some common income sources you may need to account for when filing your taxes:
Income
If you are required to file taxes in Canada, you may have one or more types of income to report. Here’s a list of the types of income you’ll need to report according to the Canada Revenue Agency website:
Employment and self-employment income
This is any income related to employment and self-employment, including commissions and foreign employment income.
Pension and savings plans income
This is pension and savings plans income like old age security, CPP or QPP benefits, or pensions from other countries
Investment income
This is income earned through investments like interest, dividends, and capital gains.
Benefit income
This includes benefit income from EI and other benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, social assistance payments, or UCCB.
Claim deductions, expenses, and credits
There are many deductions and expenses that you can use to reduce your taxable income (and any tax payments due as a result). There are also credits that can reduce the tax amount you owe. Some, called non-refundable credits, can only reduce your taxes to zero. Others, called refundable credits, can actually be refunded to you. Here are some common deductions and credits you may be eligible for:
Deductions
Registered Pension Plan (RPP)
Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) Deduction
Deduction for an Elected Split-Pension Amount
Union, Professional, or Like Dues
Child Care Expenses
Disability Supports Deduction
Business Investment Loss (ABIL)
Moving Expenses
Support Payments Made
Exploration and Development Expenses
Other Employment Expenses
Clergy Residence Deduction
Other Deductions
Canadian Forces Personnel and Police Deduction
Security Options Deductions
Limited Partnership Losses of Other Years
Non-Capital Losses of Other Years
Capital Gains Deduction
Northern Residents Deductions
Carrying Charges and Interest Expenses
Non-refundable credits
Basic Personal Amount (BPA)
Age Amount
Spouse or Common-law Partner Amount
Amount for an Eligible Dependent
Canada Caregiver Credit or Amount
Volunteer Firefighters’ Amount
The Home Buyers Amount
Home Accessibility Expenses
Adoption Expenses
Disability Amount for Self
Disability Amount Transferred from a Dependant
Interest Paid on your Student Loans
Tuition, Education, and Textbook Amounts
Tuition Amounts Transferred From a Child
Eligible Medical Expenses
Donations and Gifts
Provincial or Territorial Tax Credits
Refundable credits
Refundable medical expense supplement
Canada Workers' Benefit
Canada Training Credit
Eligible educator school supply tax credit
There are refundable credits, but the tend to be fairly niche. If you want to see what else you might want to include, look at the items between lines 43700 and 47600 on the last page of the T1 General.
Determine how you will file your taxes
Now that you are ready to file your taxes online, you must determine how to complete the online filing process. There are a few different ways to file your provincial and federal taxes with the CRA. (You may have to follow additional instructions for filing in Quebec.)
To file your taxes online, you’ll have to make sure that you are filing using a NETFILE-certified. If you have to file a Québec tax return too, your software will also need to be NetFile-certified by Revenu Québec.
NETFILE is an electronic tax-filing service that lets you file taxes online and send your income tax and benefit return directly to the CRA.
As long as you’ve filed taxes at least once since 2017, your information should be stored in the CRA’s database and retrievable by any NETFILE-certified tax software. If you are signed up for a CRA My Account, you should also be able to pre-populate your tax info using Auto-fill my return.
It’s important to know that not all tax software is certified for all years. So whether you are filing for the current tax year or before, check this page for a list of NETFILE-certified tax software developers along with the years they are approved for.
Filing taxes online for free
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to file your Canada taxes for free. Here are some examples of NETFILE-certified software you can use. Many of these have a free version you can use, with an option for in-app purchases to buy premium services as needed:
TurboTax Free
CloudTax
GenuTax Standard
TaxTron
StudioTax
eFile Canadian Tax Return
myTaxExpress
If you meet eligibility requirements, you can have your taxes done for at no charge via a free tax clinic. These clinics accept both in-person and virtual appointments.
Filing your taxes online
Once you have gathered your information and chosen the software to complete your online filing, you’ll navigate to the mobile app or desktop version of your certified tax provider and create an account by entering the following information:
Name
Social Insurance number
Date of birth
Whether or not the return is for a deceased person
Preferred language
Home address
Telephone number
It’s possible that you may receive a prompt to autofill your return with Auto-fill my return based on the account information that you enter. From here, you’ll start entering information about your income, expenses, deductions, etc. if the information isn’t already populated.
Submitting your tax filing online
Once you’ve entered all of the required information, you can submit your return by connecting directly to NETFILE (through your tax software), which electronically submits your return to the CRA. You should get an immediate confirmation that your return has been received. From here, you can check the status of your return via phone or via your CRA “My Account” site. Your return should show one of four statutes:
Assessed
In process (The CRA is assessing your return)
Received (Received, but not assessed)
Not received (The CRA did not receive your return, or the CRA received your return but did not yet update this status.)
