Tax tip

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Don't miss the deadline!

Every year, the income tax and benefit filing season arrives quickly. In order to avoid penalties and interest, you have until midnight on April 30, 2009, to file your 2008 income tax return electronically by EFILE for authorized service providers, NETFILE for electronic transmission, or TELEFILE for transmission by phone, or on paper, and to pay any balance owing.

If you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in 2008 (other than a business whose expenditures are primarily in connection with a tax shelter), you have until midnight on June 15, 2009, to file your 2008 return, but you still have to pay any balance owing by April 30, 2009.

Electronic services – Quick. Easy. Secure.

Millions of people trust the reliability and flexibility of the online services that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) offers—services that allow you to file a return, change your return, change your address, calculate your family benefits, apply for direct deposit, and more. For a list of quick, easy, and secure options, go to www.cra.gc.ca/electronicservices.

Keep your records

Remember, you need to keep your records for at least six years to support your claims, in case the CRA selects your return for review.

Help completing your return

If you qualify for the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program and have a simple tax situation, a trained volunteer will help you to complete your income tax and benefit return for 2008. Call the CRA Individuals Income Tax Enquiries line at 1-800-959-8281, or go to www.cra.gc.ca/volunteer, to find a Community Volunteer Income Tax Program clinic near you.

Have a complaint about service?

The CRA – Service Complaints program is a formalized complaint resolution process that strengthens our ability to respond to service-related problems across the organization. It also supports the service rights outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

If you are not satisfied with the service that you have received, and you have not been able to resolve it by talking to us, you have the right to make a formal complaint using Form RC193, Service-Related Complaint , about:

• undue delays;
• poor or misleading information;
• staff behaviour; and
• mistakes, which could refer to misunderstandings, omissions, or oversights.

The CRA will review your complaint, and will aim to resolve it in a fair and timely manner. If you remain dissatisfied with the review of your complaint, you can contact the Taxpayers' Ombudsman who will provide a final impartial review. For more information or to get Form RC193, go to www.cra.gc.ca/complaints.

More information

For more information on filing deadlines, go to www.cra.gc.ca/dates-ind.

This document is also available for download in PDF format.

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Date modified:

2009-04-09