Self-Employed Tax Deadline in Canada: June 15 vs April 30

Short answer: The self-employed tax deadline in Canada is June 15 to file but April 30 to pay. For the 2026 tax year, that means filing your return by June 15, 2027 and paying any balance owing by April 30, 2027; interest is charged on whatever is still unpaid after April 30. If the CRA has asked you for instalments, they are due March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15. Sole proprietors who file GST/HST annually with a December 31 year-end get the same pair of dates.

These dates come from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and apply to sole proprietors, freelancers and contractors who report business income on their personal return. The 2025 tax year deadlines, April 30 and June 15, 2026, have passed, so this page is set out for the 2026 tax year you are earning in now. What you actually owe is covered in self-employed taxes in Canada, the sales tax return in how to file a GST/HST return, and the rest of the series on the Canada guides hub.

What is the self-employed tax deadline in Canada?

You have until June 15 to file your return, but any balance owing is due April 30 — two dates, and only the first one is extended.

The CRA’s 2026 tax deadlines for businesses and self-employed individuals sets the rule out for the 2025 tax year: file by June 15, 2026, pay by April 30, 2026. The June 15 date applies if you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in the year. That is why a salaried partner of a freelancer also gets until June 15 to file.

There is one exception. If the business expenses were mainly the cost or capital cost of tax shelter investments, the filing deadline falls back to April 30. Everyone without self-employment income in the household files and pays by April 30.

Why do you pay by April 30 when you can file by June 15?

Because the extra six weeks are for the paperwork, not the payment: tax owing is due April 30 whether or not you have filed.

That catches people out because they treat June 15 as “tax day” and pay with the return. The balance then sits unpaid from April 30 to June 15, and the CRA charges interest on it for that period. The fix is to work out roughly what you owe in March or April, pay it by April 30, and finish the return at your own pace.

Worked example. Priya is a freelance designer in Ontario. Going through her 2026 invoices and receipts in March 2027, she estimates her 2026 income tax and CPP at $9,400. She paid $6,000 in instalments during 2026, so she pays the $3,400 difference on April 30, 2027 and files her return with Form T2125 on June 15, 2027. If her estimate was slightly high, the CRA refunds the difference after it assesses the return; if it was low, interest only runs on the shortfall rather than the whole balance.

Line-by-line help with the business form is in T2125 explained.

What are the self-employed tax deadlines for the 2026 tax year?

For income earned in 2026, the key dates run from the December 2026 instalment through filing on June 15, 2027.

Date	What is due	Who it applies to
March 15, 2026 (a Sunday, so on time the next business day)	1st instalment for 2026	If the CRA has asked you to pay instalments
June 15, 2026	2nd instalment for 2026	Same
September 15, 2026	3rd instalment for 2026	Same
December 15, 2026	4th instalment for 2026	Same
Last day of February 2027 (February 28 is a Sunday)	T4A slips for fees paid to you in 2026	Your clients, if they issue them
April 30, 2027 (Friday)	Pay any 2026 balance owing: income tax and CPP	Everyone
April 30, 2027	Pay 2026 GST/HST net tax	Annual filers who are individuals with a December 31 year-end
June 15, 2027 (Tuesday)	File your 2026 return with Form T2125	You, or your spouse or common-law partner, if either carried on a business
June 15, 2027	File your 2026 annual GST/HST return	Same annual filers as above

The 2026 instalment dates are confirmed on the CRA’s instalment due dates page. The 2027 filing and payment dates follow the CRA’s standing rules; the CRA confirms each year’s calendar on its personal income tax due dates page ahead of filing season, so check it before you rely on a date.

When are tax instalments due if you are self-employed?

If the CRA has asked you to pay by instalments, they are due on March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15 of the tax year.

Instalments exist because no one withholds tax from a self-employed person’s income. Whether you have to pay them depends on how much tax you owed when you filed in recent years; the test and the ways to work out the amounts are on the CRA’s instalment pages. Instalments for 2026 count toward your 2026 balance: whatever they do not cover is the amount you pay on April 30, 2027.

The same quarterly calendar continues in 2027, with the first 2027 instalment on March 15, 2027, before you have even filed for 2026. If you are paying a 2026 balance and a 2027 instalment within six weeks of each other, plan the cash for both.

When is your GST/HST return due as a sole proprietor?

It depends on your reporting period: one month after the period for monthly and quarterly filers, and April 30 to pay and June 15 to file for most annual filers who are sole proprietors.

Reporting period	Filing and payment deadline	Next due dates
Annual, individual with business income and a December 31 year-end	Pay April 30, file June 15	2026 year: pay April 30, 2027; file June 15, 2027
Annual, any other year-end	3 months after fiscal year-end	Depends on your year-end
Quarterly (calendar quarters)	1 month after the quarter ends	July–Sept 2026: October 31, 2026 (a Saturday, so Monday, November 2); Oct–Dec 2026: January 31, 2027 (a Sunday, so Monday, February 1)
Monthly	1 month after the month ends	One month after each month

These rules are on the CRA’s GST/HST reporting requirements and deadlines page. GST/HST returns for reporting periods starting in 2024 or later have to be filed electronically by almost every registrant, which is a step-by-step process of its own, covered in how to file a GST/HST return. Annual filers can also be required to pay GST/HST instalments during the year, which the CRA explains under when to pay.

What if a tax deadline falls on a weekend or holiday?

Your return or payment is on time if the CRA receives it, or it is postmarked, on or before the next business day.

That rule, on the CRA’s 2026 deadlines page, is why March 15, 2026 effectively became Monday, March 16, and why the October 31, 2026 GST/HST quarterly date lands on Monday, November 2. Neither of the big 2027 dates moves: April 30, 2027 is a Friday and June 15, 2027 a Tuesday. Electronic payments can take time to post, so aim for a business day or two early rather than the last evening.

Does the deadline change if you live in Ontario or Quebec?

Not in Ontario; Quebec adds a second, provincial return.

Outside Quebec, your provincial income tax is calculated on the same return you file with the CRA, so a freelancer in Toronto, Calgary or Halifax has the same June 15 and April 30 dates as everyone else. Quebec residents also file a separate provincial return with Revenu Québec, which publishes its own dates. Self-employed people in Quebec should check Revenu Québec for those rather than assume the federal calendar covers both.

What happens if you miss the self-employed tax deadline?

Paying late costs interest; filing late with a balance owing adds a late-filing penalty on top.

The two are separate. If you file by June 15 but cannot pay in full, you avoid the late-filing penalty and only pay interest on what is outstanding. If you neither file nor pay, you get both, and the penalty grows with each month the return is late. The GST/HST return has its own penalty: 1% of the amount owing plus a quarter of that 1% for each complete month late, up to 12 months. So when money is tight, file on time anyway and pay what you can.

…and where does Keel fit?

Deadlines are easy to hit when the year’s numbers already exist. Keel: Invoice Maker & Receipts, an iPhone app by Ilura Technology, keeps them as you go: estimates that become invoices in one tap, invoices sent as PDFs, receipts and expenses, business mileage records, all filed under the job they belong to. When March comes and you need a rough 2026 total before April 30, it starts from records you already have rather than a shoebox.

Keel does not file your return, does not connect to the CRA and does not calculate the tax you owe; you or your accountant still do that. Records stay on your iPhone, with no account, no bank connection and no cloud sync, and the App Store privacy label reads “Data Not Collected.” Keel is free with no invoice limit (free invoices carry a small “Made with Keel” footer); Keel Lifetime is a one-time purchase ($249.99 USD, local price on the App Store) 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

Is the self-employed tax deadline June 15 or April 30? Both, for different things. June 15 is the deadline to file your return if you or your spouse or common-law partner carried on a business in the year, while April 30 is the deadline to pay any balance owing. For the 2026 tax year that is June 15, 2027 to file and April 30, 2027 to pay, and interest runs on any balance unpaid after April 30.

What is the tax deadline in Ontario for self-employed people? The same as the federal one, because Ontario personal income tax is calculated on the return you file with the CRA. For the 2026 tax year, a self-employed person in Ontario files by June 15, 2027 and pays any balance by April 30, 2027. Ontario businesses registered for HST follow the CRA’s GST/HST deadlines for their reporting period.

Does the June 15 deadline apply to my spouse? Yes, if either of you carried on a business in the year. The CRA extends the filing date to June 15 for you and your spouse or common-law partner, so a salaried partner of a self-employed person also files by June 15. The payment deadline does not move for either of you: any balance owing is still due April 30.

When are taxes due if I incorporate? A corporation runs on its own calendar, tied to its tax year-end rather than to April 30 and June 15. The T2 return is due within six months of year-end; the tax is generally due two months after year-end, or three months for a Canadian-controlled private corporation claiming the small business deduction. Whether that switch is worth it is covered in sole proprietor vs corporation.

Do I file my GST/HST return at the same time as my income tax? If you are an annual GST/HST filer, an individual with business income and a December 31 year-end, yes: both are filed by June 15 and both balances are paid by April 30. Quarterly and monthly filers have separate deadlines one month after each period ends, so they file several GST/HST returns a year on top of the income tax return.

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