How to Pay CRA Tax Owing: Payment Options, Deadlines and Relief

Short answer: You can pay CRA tax owing through online banking: add the CRA as a payee and use your social insurance number as the account number. You can also pay by Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard through the CRA’s My Payment service, by pre-authorized debit set up in My Account, by credit card through a third-party provider that charges a fee, or in person at Canada Post with a personalized QR code. For the 2026 tax year the balance is due April 30, 2027, even though self-employed people have until June 15, 2027 to file, and interest compounds daily on anything unpaid after that date (7% a year for October to December 2026). If you can’t pay in full, set up a payment arrangement. Taxpayer relief can cancel penalties and interest, but not the tax itself.

These are the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) payment rules as of October 2026, for individuals, including sole proprietors who pay business tax through their personal return. What goes into the balance is covered in self-employed taxes in Canada, the full calendar in the self-employed tax deadline, and more guides are on the Canada guides hub.

How do I pay CRA tax owing?

Pay electronically if you can: online banking, My Payment and pre-authorized debit cost nothing. The CRA lists every option on its make a payment page:

Method	How it works	Cost	Good to know
Online banking	Add the CRA as a payee and pay from your bank account	No CRA fee	Treated as paid the same or next business day, depending on your bank
My Payment	One-time payment on the CRA site with your bank card	No CRA fee	Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard only, no credit cards
Pre-authorized debit	Schedule withdrawals from your chequing account in My Account	No CRA fee	Set it up at least 5 business days before the first withdrawal
Third-party provider	The provider takes your credit card and pays the CRA for you	The provider’s service fee	The CRA names PaySimply and Plastiq as the credit card options
Canada Post	Pay in person with debit or cash	—	You need a personalized QR code first, so the payment is applied to your account

If your bank doesn’t list the CRA as a payee, or you’d rather not add one, My Payment and pre-authorized debit let you pay CRA taxes online directly on the CRA’s side.

How do I pay CRA taxes online through my bank?

Add the CRA as a payee, pick the option that matches what you’re paying, and enter your nine-digit social insurance number (SIN) as the account number.

Choosing the right payee option is what gets the payment applied correctly. The wording varies from bank to bank, but the CRA describes three kinds of option:

You’re paying	Choose the option for	Example of the wording
A balance on a return you’ve filed, before the CRA has assessed it	The tax return for that year	”CRA (revenue) – 2026 tax return”
A balance on your notice of assessment or reassessment	Tax amount owing	”CRA (revenue) – tax amount owing”
A quarterly instalment toward this year’s tax	Instalments	”CRA (revenue) – tax instalment”

Type your SIN carefully; a wrong digit can send the payment to the wrong account. The CRA says to allow three business days before checking that an online payment has arrived. Save your bank’s confirmation number until the payment shows in My Account.

When is CRA tax owing due?

April 30 after the tax year. For 2026 income, that is April 30, 2027, whatever date you file.

Self-employed people can file as late as June 15, but the CRA’s balance owing date stays April 30. From the day after the due date, the CRA charges interest, compounded daily, on any unpaid amount until it’s paid in full. The rate is the prescribed rate, reset every three months: for October 1 to December 31, 2026, overdue taxes are charged 7% a year.

Worked example. A Halifax carpenter still owes $4,000 from her 2025 return, which was due April 30, 2026. At 7% compounded daily, every 30 days the debt stays unpaid in the October–December 2026 quarter adds roughly $23 of interest on that $4,000. Paying $2,000 now halves that daily cost straight away, even if she can’t clear the rest yet.

Filing late is a separate cost. If you owe tax and file after the deadline, a late-filing penalty is added on top of the interest, and it grows with each month the return is late. File on time even if you can’t pay, so only interest runs.

If the CRA has asked you to pay instalments, they are due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. That usually happens once your net tax owing is more than $3,000 ($1,800 in Quebec) in the current year and in either of the two previous years. Use the instalment payee option for these, not the tax-owing one.

What if I can’t pay my CRA balance in full?

Pay what you can by the due date, then set up a payment arrangement for the rest.

For personal income tax (T1) debts, you can arrange to pay over time yourself in My Account:

1. Sign in to your CRA account and select Proceed to pay.
2. Choose Schedule a series of payments.
3. Fill in the amounts and dates, and confirm the pre-authorized debit agreement. The first payment has to be at least five business days after you create it.

For other debts, or to change an arrangement or tell the CRA you’ll miss a payment, call the CRA. Interest keeps compounding on the unpaid balance during the arrangement, because it runs until the balance is paid in full. So an arrangement with larger, earlier payments costs less than one stretched as far as possible. Contact the CRA before it contacts you.

What is CRA taxpayer relief, and when does it apply?

Taxpayer relief lets the CRA cancel or waive penalties and interest, not the tax itself, when they result from circumstances beyond your control. You ask for it on Form RC4288.

The CRA’s taxpayer relief provisions describe the situations it considers:

• Extraordinary circumstances that stopped you from filing or paying on time, such as a natural disaster or a serious illness.
• Actions of the CRA, such as processing delays or incorrect information it gave you.
• Inability to pay or financial hardship, where interest makes it impossible to pay off the debt.

The form. Use RC4288, Request for Taxpayer Relief – Cancel or Waive Penalties or Interest. Explain what happened and how it stopped you from paying or filing, and attach proof, such as medical letters.

The time limit is 10 years, applied differently to penalties and interest. For a penalty, you have 10 years from the end of the calendar year in which the tax year at issue ended. For interest, the CRA can only cancel interest that built up in the 10 calendar years before the year you make the request, whatever year the debt came from.

Relief is discretionary, and simply not having set money aside is unlikely to qualify on its own. Keep paying while the request is being reviewed, because any interest that isn’t cancelled keeps growing.

How do I pay GST/HST owing?

The same ways, but to your GST/HST account, whose number is your business number plus RT0001, not your SIN. In online banking, choose the CRA’s GST/HST payee option. You can also pay by pre-authorized debit in My Business Account, or from GST/HST NETFILE when you file. Sole proprietors who file annually with a December 31 year-end pay GST/HST net tax by April 30, the same date as their income tax. The return and payment steps are in how to file a GST/HST return.

In Quebec, provincial income tax is assessed on a separate Revenu Québec return, and a CRA payment doesn’t cover it.

How do you avoid a big CRA balance next year?

Set money aside from every payment you receive, and pay instalments when the CRA asks for them.

No one withholds tax from self-employed income, so April brings the whole year’s bill, including both halves of CPP: for 2026, 11.9% of net self-employment income between $3,500 and $74,600 before CPP2, as CPP for the self-employed explains. A fixed share of each invoice moved into a separate account, plus a rough estimate in March, turns April 30 into a transfer instead of a surprise.

…and where does Keel fit?

A March estimate is only as good as the records behind it. Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts, an iPhone app by Ilura Technology OÜ, keeps those records as you go. It handles estimates that become invoices in one tap, PDF invoices, receipts and expenses, and business mileage, each filed under its job. A “who owes you” view drafts reminders you review and send yourself, so the money you’re counting on actually comes in before April.

Keel doesn’t calculate the tax you owe, pay the CRA, file returns or connect to the CRA. Your records stay on your iPhone: no account, no bank connection, no cloud sync, and the App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected.” It’s free with no invoice limit, and free invoices carry a small “Made with Keel” footer. Keel Lifetime is a one-time purchase ($249.99 USD; the App Store shows your local price) that adds accountant-ready exports and advanced reports, custom branding, a signature and premium templates. Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts on the App Store.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay CRA tax with a credit card? Not directly. The CRA doesn’t take credit cards, and its My Payment service accepts only Visa Debit and Debit Mastercard. You can pay by credit card through a third-party payment service provider. The CRA currently names PaySimply and Plastiq, and they charge a service fee that you should weigh against the interest you’d otherwise pay.

How long does a CRA payment take to process? An online banking payment is treated as paid on the same or the next business day, depending on your bank. It can take up to three business days to show in your CRA account, so pay a few business days before April 30 and keep your confirmation number.

What happens if I don’t pay my CRA tax owing by April 30? The CRA charges daily compound interest on the unpaid balance from the day after the due date until it’s paid in full. The rate is 7% a year for October to December 2026. If you also file late, a late-filing penalty is added. If you can’t pay, file on time anyway and set up a payment arrangement.

What is the CRA taxpayer relief form? Form RC4288, Request for Taxpayer Relief – Cancel or Waive Penalties or Interest. You use it to ask the CRA to cancel penalties or interest caused by circumstances beyond your control, actions of the CRA, or financial hardship. It doesn’t reduce the tax itself, and requests are limited to a 10-year window.

Can I make a payment plan with the CRA? Yes. For personal income tax debts, you can schedule a series of pre-authorized debit payments yourself in My Account, under Proceed to pay and then Schedule a series of payments. For other debts, or to change a plan, call the CRA. Interest continues on the unpaid balance until it’s cleared.

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This article is general information, not tax advice. Consult a qualified accountant or tax professional.