Filing and Payment

This subsection focuses on the payment side of the taxpayer workflow: paying on time, paying by instalments, and dealing with balances owing.

Most pages here answer one of two timing problems:

• tax that has to be prepaid while the year is still happening
• tax that remains unpaid after the CRA has already processed a return

What Belongs Here

Use this subsection when the filing result already exists and the next question is about paying, paying later, or dealing with an amount the CRA says is still owing.

This is the right home when the return has already moved past the concept stage and the practical question is now:

• when do I have to pay?
• do I owe something now or during the year?
• what happens if the balance is still unpaid?

Best Starting Pages

Use these pages when the filing result is already known and the question is how or when tax gets paid.

• Filing Deadline
• Instalment Payment
• Tax Balance Owing
• Late-Filing Penalty

Practical Reader Path

• Start with Filing Deadline if the main issue is when something must be filed or paid.
• Start with Tax Balance Owing if the issue is a known unpaid amount.
• Start with Instalment Payment if the issue is paying during the year instead of after filing.
• Move to Penalties if the real concern is what happens after a missed deadline.

Quick Distinctions

Typical Sequence

1. A return is filed and the CRA processes it.
2. The result may show a refund, nil balance, or Tax Balance Owing.
3. If repeated unpaid tax is not covered at source, a later year may move the taxpayer into Instalment Payment.

In this section

• Filing Deadline
  Filing deadlines set the last date a return or required filing must reach the CRA, which is not always the payment due date.
• Instalment Payment
  Instalment payments are in-year tax prepayments used when withholding is not expected to cover the final bill.
• Tax Balance Owing
  Tax balance owing is the amount still payable after income, deductions, credits, and prior payments are reconciled.