Every year, we meet people paying penalties and interest that could have been avoided entirely - not because they owed something unusual, but because a date slipped by. Here are the deadlines that matter for 2026, in plain English.
Personal tax returns (T1)
- April 30, 2026 - filing deadline for most individuals, and the payment deadline for everyone. Even if you can't file on time, paying what you owe by April 30 stops interest from accruing.
- June 15, 2026 - filing deadline if you or your spouse are self-employed. Note the trap: your payment was still due April 30.
RRSP contributions
The deadline to contribute to your RRSP and deduct it against your 2025 income is March 2, 2026 (the usual 60-day window, shifted because March 1 lands on a Sunday). Contributions after that date count toward 2026.
Corporate returns (T2)
Your T2 is due six months after your fiscal year-end - so a December 31 year-end means a June 30, 2026 filing deadline. The tax itself is generally due two or three months after year-end, depending on your corporation's status. This mismatch surprises a lot of first-year owners: the payment comes due before the return does.
Payroll and slips
- End of February - T4 and T5 slips must be issued to employees and filed with CRA (when the last day of February falls on a weekend, the deadline moves to the next business day).
- The 15th of each month - payroll remittances for regular remitters, covering the previous month's source deductions.
GST/HST
Annual filers generally file by June 15 with payment due April 30; quarterly filers file and pay one month after each quarter ends. If you're not sure which schedule you're on, check your last CRA notice - filing on the wrong schedule is a common source of penalties.
Instalments
If CRA has asked you to pay income tax by instalments, the 2026 due dates are March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15.
Running behind?
File anyway - as soon as you can. Late-filing penalties grow with time, and in many cases a late return still produces a refund. If you're more than a year behind, we can back-file multiple years and deal with CRA on your behalf. Book a free consultation and we'll get you back on track.