Department of Finance Canada released Budget 2026: Masters of our destiny on Nov. 5, 2026, with proposals to redraw several CRA filing and payment dates.
| Area | Current rule | Proposed rule | Timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal T1 filing and balance due date | Most individuals file and pay by April 30. Self-employed individuals and their spouses or common-law partners generally file by June 15, while paying any balance owing by April 30. | All individuals, including self-employed individuals and their spouses or common-law partners, would file and pay by May 15. | 2027 and later taxation years. |
| Income tax instalment threshold | Most individuals may have to pay instalments when net tax owing is more than $3,000, or $1,800 for Quebec residents, for the relevant years. Corporations generally face a $3,000 federal tax payable threshold. | The threshold would rise to $7,500 for corporations and individuals outside Quebec, and to $4,500 for Quebec individuals. The thresholds would be indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500. | Taxation years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2028. |
| Business-income instalments | A single annual instalment is currently available for individuals whose chief source of income is farming or fishing. | Individuals whose primary source of income is from a business, including professional or commission income, could make one instalment equal to two-thirds of combined federal-provincial net tax owing by Dec. 31. The remainder would be due on the applicable balance-due date. | 2028 and later taxation years. |
| Foreign property reporting | Form T1135 is generally required when specified foreign property has a total cost of more than $100,000. Simplified reporting is available below $250,000. | The filing threshold would rise to $200,000. The CRA would also raise the simplified reporting threshold to below $500,000. | Taxation years or fiscal periods ending after 2026. |
A May 15 deadline would simplify one rule and compress another
The proposed May 15 deadline would give most individual taxpayers two extra weeks compared with the current April 30 filing and payment date. For self-employed individuals, the tradeoff is different: the filing deadline would move earlier than the current June 15 date, but filing and payment would finally fall on the same day.
Finance Canada says the change would give tax filers and the CRA more time to receive and process tax slips. The government says this could reduce reassessments and interactions with the CRA, and estimates about $230 million in interest and penalty savings over five years starting in 2026-27, with $55 million in ongoing annual savings.
The change would also affect tax-preparation workflows. A single date is easier to communicate, but tax software, accounting firms and self-employed taxpayers would need to adjust calendars that currently treat April 30 and June 15 as separate milestones.
The instalment proposal changes timing, not tax rates
Current CRA guidance for 2026 says instalments may be required when an individual’s net tax owing is more than $3,000, or $1,800 for Quebec residents, for 2026 and either 2025 or 2024. The CRA lists quarterly instalment due dates of March 15, June 15, Sept. 15 and Dec. 15, except for farmers and fishers who have one due date.
Budget 2026 would raise those thresholds starting in 2028. Finance Canada says the existing thresholds have not changed since 2008. If enacted, some taxpayers who now pay quarterly instalments would instead pay their remaining balance when filing.
That would reduce paperwork for affected taxpayers, but it would not erase tax owing. For taxpayers with income that is not withheld at source, fewer interim payments can also mean a larger balance later if cash is not set aside through the year.
Self-employed taxpayers would get a new annual instalment option
The proposed annual instalment option is separate from the higher threshold. It would apply to individuals whose primary source of income is from a business, including professional or commission income.
Instead of making quarterly instalments, eligible individuals could make one Dec. 31 payment equal to two-thirds of combined federal-provincial net tax owing for the year. The remaining balance would be due on the applicable balance-due date.
Finance Canada says this would extend similar treatment already available to farming and fishing income. The practical benefit is cash-flow timing, especially for seasonal or uneven business income. The practical risk is concentration: one larger year-end instalment still requires planning.
Who is likely to notice the instalment changes
The budget documents say the instalment threshold change would mean nearly 1.1 million individuals and 185,000 small incorporated businesses would no longer pay taxes in instalments. The government also says about 190,000 self-employed individuals would benefit from the option to make one annual instalment payment.
The direct effects are concentrated among taxpayers already in the instalment system. Finance Canada’s impacts report says affected instalment payers tend to be older and have higher incomes than the average Canadian, with a median age of 65 and median total income of $93,000. For self-employed individuals expected to benefit from the annual instalment option, the report gives a median age of 49 and median total income of $136,000.
These proposals are mainly tax-administration changes for people and businesses with income that is not fully withheld at source, including business income, pension income, dividends, interest, rental income and capital gains.
Other tax-administration proposals in the same package
Foreign property reporting
Finance Canada says the higher Form T1135 filing threshold would exempt about one-third of current filers from the obligation to file the form.
Objections to assessments
The budget also proposes longer timelines for filing a notice of objection to an income tax assessment. For most taxpayers, the new deadline would be one year after the notice of assessment is sent. For individuals and graduated rate estates, it would be the later of one year after the notice is sent and two years from the tax return filing due date for the year being assessed.
Finance Canada says taxpayers would no longer need to apply for an extension of time, and that extension process would be eliminated. This change would apply to assessments sent on or after the day that is three months after royal assent.
Tax debt disclosure to credit bureaus
A separate proposal would allow the CRA to disclose certain income tax and GST/HST debts to credit bureaus, but only under listed conditions. The debt would have to exceed $50,000, the assessments or reassessments could not be under objection or appeal, all objection and appeal rights would have to be expired or exhausted, and the CRA would have to provide at least 30 days’ written notice before disclosure.
The CRA would also have to take reasonable collection steps and give the taxpayer an opportunity to make reasonable repayment arrangements before disclosure. Finance Canada says this measure would apply on royal assent of the enacting legislation.
Current CRA rules still apply for now
Until the relevant legislation takes effect and CRA pages are updated, the existing filing, payment and instalment rules remain the rules taxpayers must follow. The budget does not change CRA reminders already issued under current law.
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