What you need to know for the 2022 tax-filing season

The tax-filing deadline for most individuals is April 30, 2022

Since April 30, 2022, falls on a Saturday, your return will be considered filed on time in either of the following situations:

  • receive it on or before May 2, 2022
  • it is postmarked on or before May 2, 2022

You have until June 15, 2022, to file your return if you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed.

The payment deadline is April 30, 2022

If you have a balance owing, your payment is due on April 30, 2022.

If you or your spouse or common law partner are self-employed, your payment is still due on April 30, 2022. 

If you filed your 2020 return and qualified for interest relief, you have until April 30, 2022, to pay any outstanding income tax debt for the 2020 tax year. This applies to the tax owing for the 2020 tax year only, and not for any previous tax year.

Since April 30, 2022, falls on a Saturday, in all of the above situations, your payment will be considered paid on time if it is received, or it is processed at a Canadian financial institution, on or before May 2, 2022.

Plan ahead this tax-filing season

Plan ahead, and file your income tax and benefit return as soon as you can. Doing so will allow you to:

  • receive any refund faster (if applicable)
  • avoid interruptions to your benefit and credit payments
  • seek help if you need it

To help you plan ahead, we encourage you to sign up for direct deposit and to file online. Using these tools will help you avoid delays and get your notice of assessment (NOA) and any refund, if applicable, faster. Also, please sign up for My Account. It is the fastest and easiest way to view and manage your tax and benefit information. If you own a business, you can also sign up for My Business Account.

Filing before the deadline is the best way to make sure your entitled benefit and credit payments are not interrupted. This includes the Canada child benefit, the goods and services tax / harmonized sales tax credit, and any related provincial or territorial benefits. Even if you owe tax, don’t risk having your benefits interrupted by not filing. If you cannot pay your balance owing, we can work with you on a payment arrangement.

Our service standard is to issue your NOA within two weeks of receiving your return online. Due to COVID-19 delays, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) may take 10 to 12 weeks to process paper returns. The CRA will process them in the order they are received. Canadians who file online and who are signed up for direct deposit may get their refund in as little as eight business days.

Go digital this tax-filing season

Go digital this tax-filing season by using online services such as:

  • My Account – This service lets you manage your tax and benefit affairs online. You can update your address, direct deposit information, marital status, and more. You can also sign up for Email notifications and access digital services such as Auto-fill my return and Express NOA in certified tax filing software.
  • Express NOA – This service allows you to view your NOA in your certified tax software. Your notice becomes available right after the CRA receives and processes your return, seconds after filing.
  • Email notifications – These notifications help you keep track of information in your account. They help prevent fraud by sending you an email when:
    • you have mail from the CRA
    • your address, direct deposit or other information has been changed 
    • any paper mail from the CRA that was addressed to you is returned

Please note that it will be mandatory to provide an email address to use My Account as of February 2022.

You can check out questions and answers about filing your taxes page for more answers to common questions. This page will be updated periodically to incorporate changes that may affect you during the tax-filing season.

Haven’t filed in a while or have never filed a return?

You have to complete and file an income tax and benefit return every year to:

  • receive certain benefits and credits to which you may be entitled
  • possibly get a tax refund
  • pay Canadian taxes you may owe

There are different ways to file your income tax and benefit return(s) if you:

  • have never filed a return before
  • haven’t filed in a while
  • would like to file returns for previous years

You can go to our Get ready to do your taxes page. It has information on deadlines, and other tax tips that can be helpful for you. You can also get answers to frequently asked questions about filing your taxes at our Questions and answers about filing your taxes page.

COVID-19 benefits

If you received benefits issued by the CRA in 2021, such as the Canada Recovery Benefit, a T4A information slip will be mailed to you by the end of February 2022. Residents of Quebec will receive a T4A slip and an RL-1 slip.

T4A information slips from the Government of Canada for COVID-19-related benefits will also be provided online if you’re registered for My Account and have full access. To have full access to My Account, you need to enter the CRA security code issued to you after completing the first step of the registration process. You can view some tax slips online starting in early January in My Account

Information slips, including information for COVID-19-related benefits, are also available through the Auto-fill my return service in certified tax filing software. This service automatically fills in parts of an income tax and benefit return with information that the CRA has on file. To use the service, you must be registered for My Account.

When COVID-19 benefits were paid, some tax was withheld at source. If you end up owing additional tax on top of that, and that payment could present a significant financial hardship. In that case, expanded payment arrangements could work for you. This will give you more time and flexibility to repay based on your financial situation. Also, taxpayer relief is available if you can’t meet your tax obligations because of circumstances beyond your control. The CRA may cancel or waive penalties or interest under certain conditions.

The individual tax enquiries line is open Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm, local time, and Saturday 9am to 5pm, local time, except holidays.

Protecting you from scams and fraud 

The safety and security of Canadians, and their information, is a priority for the CRA. Being a victim of scams, fraud, or identity theft can result in significant financial and emotional effects.

Know when and how the CRA might contact you. The Be Scam Smart page provides information on the ways in which the CRA may contact you, including by:

  • phone
  • email
  • mail
  • text message

What’s new on the income tax and benefit return

Canada workers benefit – The Canada workers benefit rates and income thresholds have changed for 2021. A new “secondary earner exemption” has also been introduced.

Climate action incentive payment – The Government of Canada has announced its intention to deliver the Climate action incentive (CAI) as a quarterly benefit payment. If you are a resident of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or Ontario, and you are eligible, you will automatically receive your CAI payments four times a year, starting in July 2022. To receive your payments, you have to file a tax return even if you have not received income in the year. You may qualify for the supplement for residents of small and rural communities if you currently reside outside of a census metropolitan area (CMA) and expect to continue to reside outside of a CMA on April 1, 2022.

Home office expenses – You may be eligible to claim a deduction of up to $500 annually for home office expenses in the 2021 tax year using the temporary flat rate method, if you worked more than 50% of the time from home for a period of at least four consecutive weeks due to COVID-19. This method can also be used if your employer provided you a choice to work from home due to COVID-19 during this period.

Zero-emission vehicles – The definition of zero-emission vehicle has changed for vehicles acquired after March 1, 2020. A vehicle may still qualify as a zero-emission vehicle if the vehicle was subject to a prior capital cost allowance or terminal loss claim provided that the vehicle was not acquired by the taxpayer on a tax-deferred “rollover” basis or previously owned or acquired by the taxpayer or a non-arm’s length person or partnership.

Support for farmers – The Government of Canada outlined in Budget 2021 the objective of returning a portion of the proceeds from the price on pollution to farmers in jurisdictions that do not have a carbon pricing system. The designated provinces are currently Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. For 2021, under proposed legislation, farmers who incur eligible farming expenses of $25,000 or more, which are all or partially attributable to designated provinces, may be able to receive a credit of $1.47 per $1,000 in eligible farming expenses.

Educator School Supply Tax Credit – To support teachers and early childhood educators in Canada, the government proposes to expand and enrich the Eligible Educator School Supply Tax Credit to allow them to claim a 25% refundable tax credit for purchases up to $1,000 on eligible teaching supplies bought during the tax year. The government also proposes to expand the list of eligible teaching supplies to include electronic devices such as graphing calculators, digital timers, and tools for remote learning. These enhancements would take effect starting with the 2021 tax year.

Eligible educators regardless of their income level, who buy teaching supplies may qualify for a refundable tax credit of up to $250 each year. Teaching supplies are consumable supplies such as crayons, glue, and paper, as well as certain prescribed durable goods such as:

  • books, games and puzzles;
  • containers (such as plastic boxes or banker boxes);
  • educational support software;
  • calculators (including graphing calculators);
  • external data storage devices;
  • web cams, microphones and headphones;
  • multimedia projectors;
  • wireless pointer devices;
  • digital timers;
  • speakers;
  • electronic educational toys;
  • video streaming devices;
  • printers;
  • laptop, desktop and tablet computers, provided that none of these items are made available to the eligible educator by their employer for use outside of the classroom.

Northern residents deductions – You may live in a prescribed zone and be eligible to claim these deductions. To find out, visit Line 25500 – Places located in prescribed zonesThe northern residents’ deductions are available to those who permanently live in a prescribed zone for a continuous period of at least six consecutive months, beginning or ending in the tax year. The residency deduction is based on how many days you lived in a prescribed zone during the tax year. When these changes take effect, the travel deduction is being expanded to be available to eligible northern residents who take a trip even if their employer does not provide travel benefits for personal travel. Eligible individuals living in a prescribed northern zone can claim the full amount of these deductions, and those living in a prescribed intermediate zone can claim 50% of these deductions. For more information, visit Northern Residents Deductions for 2021.

What’s new with CRA services

Notice of assessment or reassessment – Planned for July 2022, the CRA will start the process of switching to electronically providing a notice of assessment or reassessment. If you file your return using:

  • NETFILE or EFILE, you will receive your notice of assessment or reassessment electronically through your NETFILE software, from your EFILE service provider, or through My Account by providing your email address. You can find more information on how to register for My Account here: Registration process to access the CRA sign-in services.
  • a paper return, you will receive your notice of assessment or reassessment:
    • electronically through My Account, if you provided an email address to the CRA
    • by mail, if you did not provide an email address to the CRA

Note: First-time filers will receive a notice of assessment by mail regardless of how they file their first tax return.

Your email address is required for My Account – Effective February 2022, as a fraud prevention initiative, it will be mandatory to provide an email address to access My Account. This will allow the CRA to inform taxpayers in real time of changes made to their accounts. Taxpayers will have the option to select if they would like to receive their CRA correspondence by paper mail, or to be notified by email, when CRA correspondence is available for viewing electronically in My Account.

Multi-factor authentication has been added to your account – The CRA has introduced a new passcode grid option.

Automated callback service – When available, this service lets callers ask for a callback instead of waiting on hold. Callers on the individual tax enquiries, benefits enquiries, and business enquiries lines may be given the option of a callback. Keep in mind that this service will only be available at certain times of the day and when wait times reach a certain length. 

T3 returns – This tax season, if you are filing any of these T3 returns (T3ATH-IND, T3RET, T3M, T3S or T3RCA), please note that you can do it online using EFILE. Register for EFILE today to file electronically on or after February 21, 2022.

If you need a trust account number, visit our Trust Account Registration online service. T3 returns from previous years will not be accepted electronically at this time.

Cryptocurrency – Tax Implications

A cryptocurrency is a type of virtual asset that is protected using cryptography. It typically uses a system called a blockchain to record and keep a history of transactions. Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ether, are independent, meaning they do not rely on governments, central banks, or other central authorities for backing. You can obtain cryptocurrency in many ways, and new methods are being developed all the time. You can use cryptocurrencies for a wide range of activities, such as buying goods, paying bills, or investing. Transactions involving cryptocurrencies often have tax implications.

Disposing of cryptocurrencies

In general, possessing or holding a cryptocurrency is not taxable. However, there may be tax implications when you dispose of your cryptocurrency. Examples of this could include:

  • selling or trading it
  • giving it as a gift
  • converting it to government-issued currency, such as Canadian dollars
  • using it to buy goods or services

Examples of the tax consequences

The types of taxes that apply to your cryptocurrency transactions include taxes on:

  • Business income
    • Generally, if disposing of cryptocurrency is part of a business, the profits you make on the disposition or sale are considered business income and not a capital gain. Buying a cryptocurrency with the intention of selling it for a profit may be treated as business income.
  • Capital gains
    • If the sale of a cryptocurrency is not for carrying on a business, and the amount it sells for is more than the original purchase price or its adjusted cost base, then the taxpayer has a capital gain.
  • Goods and Services
    • Where a taxable property or service is exchanged for cryptocurrency, the GST/HST that applies to the property or service is calculated based on the fair market value of the cryptocurrency at the time of the exchange.

To ensure correct reporting, keep accurate records of your purchases and sales dealing with cryptocurrency, including records that show how you calculated the fair market value.

How to correct your tax affairs

If you did not report your income or capital gains from transactions in cryptocurrency, you may have to pay tax, penalties, and interest on that income or capital gain. You can avoid or reduce penalties and interest by voluntarily correcting your tax affairs. To correct your tax affairs (including corrections to GST/HST returns) and to report income that you did not report in previous years, you may:

More information

You can find more information on your tax obligations related to your cryptocurrency activities in the Canada Revenue Agency’s Guide for cryptocurrency users and tax professionals.

Are you working from home – what expenses can be claimed?

Work-space-in-the-home expenses

If you meet the eligibility criteria, you can claim a portion of certain expenses related to the use of a workspace in your home as follows:

  • Expenses you paid that relate to the work space as well as other areas of the home. You can claim the percentage of those expenses that relate to the work space.
  • Expenses related to the work space only. You can claim the total amount of the expenses if the amount paid is reasonable.
  • Expenses related to a part of the house that you did not use as a work space. You cannot claim any part of those expenses.

Can be claimed:

All salaried employees and commission employees can claim:
  • electricity
  • heat
  • water
  • utilities portion (electricity, heat, and water) of your condominium fees 
  • home internet access fees 
  • maintenance and minor repair costs 
  • rent paid for a house or apartment where you live 
Commission employees can also claim:
  • home insurance
  • property taxes
  • lease of a cell phone, computer, laptop, tablet, fax machine, etc. that reasonably relate to earning commission income

Cannot be claimed:

  • mortgage interest
  • principal mortgage payments
  • home internet connection fees
  • furniture
  • capital expenses (replacing windows, flooring, furnace, etc)Footnote5
  • wall decorations

Office supplies and phone expenses

If your employer requires you to pay for office supplies or certain phone expenses, you may be able to claim those expenses.

Although you can claim these expenses, they are not related to the physical work space in your home. They are claimed on a different section of Form T777S or Form T777

Limitations on work-space-in-the-home expenses

The work-space-in-the-home expenses you can claim are limited when:

  • you work only a part of the year from your home:
    • You can only claim the expenses you paid in the part of the year you worked from home. You cannot claim the expenses you paid for the whole year.Example: Multiple periods working from home
  • you have multiple income sources:
    • You can claim work-space-in-the-home expenses only from the income the expenses relate to, and not from any other income.
  • your expenses exceed your income:
    • The amount you can claim for work-space-in-the-home expenses is limited to the amount of employment income that is left after you have deducted all other employment expenses. This means that you cannot use work-space-in-the-home expenses to create or increase a loss from employment. If you cannot claim all your work-space-in-the-home expenses in the year, you can carry forward the expenses. You can claim these expenses in the next year as long as you are reporting income from the same employer. However, you cannot create or increase a loss from employment by carrying forward work-space-in-the-home expenses.
    • If you are a commission employee, you may not be able to claim your total work-space-in-the-home expenses if they exceed your commission income. T

How to dispute a tax decision with CRA

Speak to the Canada Revenue Agency when you disagree with a decision

Some disagreements are a result of a lack of information or miscommunication. Before you formally dispute a CRA decision, contact the CRA if you have new or additional information to help the CRA with a decision, you can request an adjustment. This often resolves the disagreement.

After talking to the CRA, you may not be satisfied with the explanation. You may think the CRA has misinterpreted the facts or has not applied the law correctly. If you find yourself in one of these situations, you can request a formal review.

You have the right to a formal review

You have the right to a formal and impartial review if you believe we have misinterpreted the facts or have not applied the law correctly. You can file an objection to request a formal review of your case.

In most cases, you have to file a notice of objection within 90 days from the date on the notice of assessment or notice of determination. When filing a notice of objection, you have to submit the facts, reasons, and documentation in support of your position.

Where an objection is filed, an officer will be assigned to the file. This officer will conduct a preliminary review of the facts and issues relevant to your situation. As part of this review, you or your authorized representative may be contacted to discuss the matter and to get more documents and details. The officer will then consider the information and make a decision.

You have the right to appeal following a formal review, if you are not satisfied with the decision reached during the review, you can appeal or seek a judicial review from the appropriate court or, for certain matters, to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal.

Legislation guides the appeals process, determining the Court or Tribunal you deal with and what process you will follow. Information is available on how to file an appeal to the Court depending on your circumstances.

Note that the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights gives you the right not to pay income tax amounts in dispute until you have had an impartial review by the CRA or, if you have sent an appeal, until the court has issued its decision. However, interest charges will continue to accumulate during this period. Also, in certain circumstances, the CRA can take collection action even though an objection or appeal has been sent. These circumstances include, namely, cases where an amount is in jeopardy, where the amount assessed relates to GST or source deductions, as well as cases where the taxpayer is a large corporation.

If you disagree with the Income Tax Act or other tax legislation matters, contact the Department of Finance Canada. The CRA administers tax legislation whereas the Department of Finance Canada is responsible for developing tax laws.

COVID-19 Financial Relief – Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit beginning October 24, 2021

Details for the new benefit: 

  • $300 a week.
  • Strictly available to workers whose work interruption is a direct result of a government-imposed public health lockdown.
  • Available until May 7, 2022, with retroactive application to October 24, 2021 should the situation warrant it.
  • Accessible for the entire duration of a government-imposed public health lockdown (up until May 7, 2022).
  • Available to workers who are ineligible for Employment Insurance (EI) and those who are eligible for EI, as long as they are not paid benefits through EI for the same period. 

Individuals whose loss of income or employment is due to their refusal to adhere to a vaccine mandate would not be able to access the benefit.

Temporarily stopping business operations – Tax filing obligations

GST/HST

If you temporarily stop your business, you must continue to file GST/HST returns even if your income is zero for the period.

If you permanently stop your business, go to Close a GST/HST account.

Payroll

If your business stops operating temporarily, call CRA at 1-800-959-5525. Otherwise, CRA will expect you to continue to remit payroll deductions and file returns.

When your business stops operating, remit all Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions, Employment insurance (EI) premiums, and income tax withheld to your tax centre within seven days of the day your business stops operating.

Complete and file the necessary T4 slips and T4 Summary electronically or send them to the Jonquière Tax Centre within 30 days of the day your business ends. Give copies of the T4 or T4A slips to your former employees.

You have to calculate the pension adjustment (PA) that applies to your former employees who accrued benefits for the year under your registered pension plan (RPP) or deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP).

Prepare and give a Record of Employment (ROE) to each former employee.

Corporate income tax

You must continue to file T2 corporate income tax returns until your corporation is dissolved by the government body/incorporating authority that governs the affairs of your corporation (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada or the province/territory).

Import/Export

No action is required if you suspend operations temporarily.

How do you bring your personal assets into your business

You may find yourself in a situation where you would like to transfer personal assets to your business.

The rules differ for each type of business structure.

Sole proprietorship

For income tax purposes, you have to transfer personal property to a sole proprietorship at its fair market value (FMV).

The FMV of the assets is the opening undepreciated capital cost (UCC).

Partnership

For income tax purposes, you can transfer your personal property to a Canadian partnership for an elected amount.

This amount may be different from the FMV, as long as you meet certain conditions. The elected amount then becomes your proceeds for the property transferred, as well as the cost of the property to the partnership. For more information on transfers of property, go to Interpretation Bulletin IT-413, Election by Members of a Partnership Under Subsection 97(2).

If the elected amount is greater than the original purchase price, you must report the difference as a capital gain on your income tax and benefit return.

Corporation

For income tax purposes, you can transfer personal property to a Canadian corporation for an elected amount.

This amount may be different from the FMV, as long as you meet certain conditions. For more information, go to Interpretation Bulletin IT-291, Transfer of Property to a Corporation under Subsection 85(1), or Information Circular IC76-19, Transfer of Property to a Corporation under Section 85.

If the elected amount is greater than the original purchase price, you have to report the difference as a capital gain on your income tax return.

Note

You can claim an input tax credit (ITC) for GST/HST included in your assets. You calculate this ITC based on the basic tax content of the assets you transferred to your business.

How to change your personal income tax return after you file it

If you think that the income tax and benefit return you filed for the tax year is missing important details such as the Home office expenses for employees or you made a mistake, you don’t need to file a new return, these are the steps to follow:

Wait for your notice of assessment

Whether you filed online or mailed your Income tax return, you need to wait to receive your notice of assessment, which will be issued to you by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). After you receive your notice of assessment, you may submit an adjustment request to the CRA. 

Requesting changes to your tax return

  • Request changes Online
    The fastest, easiest and most secure way to change a return is to use the ‘’Change my return’’ option found in the CRA’s My Account or to use ReFILE. If you cannot request changes online because your return is still being processed, you can wait a few days until it has been assessed and then use one of the options in How to change a return
  • Send an adjustment request form
    If you prefer, you can complete Form T1-ADJ, T1 Adjustment Request, and mail it to your tax centre, together with all your supporting documents for the change(s) you want to make.

Tax credits

If you don’t need to reduce your federal tax to zero, you may be able to transfer all or part of certain tax credits to your spouse or common-law partner. Please see Schedule 2 Federal amounts transferred from your spouse or common-law partner for more information.

How long will it take for the changes to be made?

  • If you submitted your request online, your change request will take about two weeks to be processed.
  • If you submitted your request by mail, your change request will take longer. Due to COVID-19, the CRA may take 10 to 12 weeks to process paper adjustments.

Keep in mind that some adjustment requests are considered complex and may take longer to process. Complex requests include situations where additional information or review is required. 

For more information on processing times, go to Service Standards in the CRA.

Online or by mail, you can request an adjustment for any of the 10 previous calendar years. For example, a request made in 2021 must relate to 2011 or a later tax year. Adjustment requests for different years should be on different forms but they can be mailed in together or submitted to the CRA at the same time.

After the CRA has reviewed your request

After the CRA has reviewed your request to change your income tax return, you will receive:

  • a notice of reassessment, indicating the changes made to your return, or
  • a letter explaining why the CRA did or did not make the changes you requested.