The Canada Revenue Agency has announced that the tax filing deadline for submitting 2014 tax returns has been extended to midnight on Tuesday, May 5, 2015:
On April 24, the CRA issued a communication to some Canadians that referred to an incorrect filing deadline for 2014 tax returns of May 5, 2015, rather than April 30, 2015.
The CRA takes full responsibility for the error and our first priority is to ensure that no Canadian is negatively affected.
As a result, and at Minister Findlay’s request, 2014 tax returns filed by midnight on May 5, 2015, will not incur interest or penalties.
The CRA sincerely regrets and apologizes for any confusion this may have caused.
Since the CRA incorrectly cited the tax return deadline as May 5th in a previous communication, it is extending the income tax filing deadline to this date. No additional penalties will be applied if you file on or before May 5th.
This provides Canadians with an extra 5 days (including an extra weekend) to file their income tax returns.
All other deadlines, including the June 15th deadline for self-employed taxpayers, remain unchanged.
Perhaps part of the reason for the delay was that the CRA was urnsue whether to post the new, fourth category of interest rate, which is the rate for corporations that overpay taxes. The interest rate historically for overpayments was the prescribed rate plus 2%. Apparently some corporations were deliberately overpaying taxes to obtain this rate (presumably their banks weren’t offering such good rates). The 2010 budget, which was just passed, amended the Regulations to specify that corporations would be entitled to the prescribed rate only. All other taxpayers will still be entitled to a rate equal to the prescribed rate plus 2%.