REMINDER: File and Pay on or Before the Tax Filing Deadline to Avoid Any Interest and Penalties

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 21, 2016) - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) encourages you to use its quick, easy, and secure electronic services to file your income tax and benefit return on time and pay any amount owing. Most Canadian income tax and benefit returns for 2015 are due on April 30, 2016. However, as this date is a Saturday, the CRA will consider your return as filed on time and your payment to be made on time if the CRA receives your submission or it is postmarked by midnight on May 2, 2016.

Self-employed individuals and their spouses or common-law partners have until June 15, 2016, to file their income tax and benefit returns, but any balance owing is still due no later than May 2, 2016.

Join the growing number of Canadians who are filing online. If you are fully registered for My Account and file online using certified tax preparation software, you may be able to use the new Auto-fill my return service to automatically fill in parts of your return, making the online filing process even simpler. It is important to file on time even if some slips or receipts are missing. And remember, filing a tax return is key to receiving benefits.

Do you have a balance owing?

There are many ways you can make a payment to the CRA. One way is to use your financial institution's telephone or Internet banking service.

You can also pay using the CRA's pre-authorized debit service offered through My Account. Pre-authorized debits let you:

• set up a payment from your account to the CRA on a pre-set date
• pay an overdue amount or make instalment payments.

Another way to make your payment is through the CRA's My Payment service, which lets you make one or more payments in one online transaction. You can use this service if you have access to online banking at a participating financial institution. For more information about online payments, go to www.cra.gc.ca/payments or contact your financial institution.

Worried you can't pay your full tax bill before the deadline?

Even if you can't pay all of your balance owing right away, you should still file your return by the deadline to avoid a late-filing penalty. If you can't pay the full amount, you may be able to make a payment arrangement with the CRA. If you are eligible, an agent can work with you to develop a payment plan. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/paymentarrangements or call 1-888-863-8657. Our agents are available Monday to Friday (except holidays) from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., Eastern time.

Make a change to your return

You will have to wait to receive your notice of assessment from the CRA before you can make a change to your return, but it's easy to make a correction if you realize after filing it that you made a mistake. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/changereturn.

Correct your tax affairs through the Voluntary Disclosures Program

Through the Voluntary Disclosures Program, the CRA offers taxpayers the chance to come forward and correct or complete their information, and to disclose information they did not report in previous dealings with the CRA. Taxpayers may avoid being penalized or prosecuted and only pay the tax or charges owing, plus interest, if they make a valid disclosure. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

Get tax information from the automated Tax Information Phone Service (TIPS)

If you need help at tax time, the TIPS is an automated telephone service that can help all day, every day. You can call TIPS at 1-800-267-6999. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/tips.

If you need to speak with an agent, the CRA also offers extended evening and Saturday service on the individual income tax enquiries line from February 15, 2016, until May 2, 2016. This service is available at 1-800-959-8281. For more information on the extended hours of service, go to www.cra.gc.ca/extendedhours.

For more tips to help you get ready to file your 2015 return, go to www.cra.gc.ca/getready.

Stay connected

To receive updates when new information is added to our website, you can:

- follow the CRA on Twitter - @CanRevAgency.

- subscribe to a CRA electronic mailing list.

- Add our RSS feeds to your feed reader.

You can also watch our tax-related videos on YouTube.