Any income tax that becomes owing by the taxpayers between March 18, 2020, and September 29, 2020, under Part I of the ITA will be deferred^[59] until September 30, 2020. Penalties and interest will not be charged if payments are made by September 30, 2020.

Interest on existing tax debts related to income tax returns from April 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020 will be waived^[60]. Penalties and interest assessed on the taxpayer’s account prior to this period will not be cancelled.

Taxpayers who are unable to file their 2019 income tax return on time will continue to receive the GST/HST credit and/or the CCB^[61] until the end of September 2020. If the 2019 tax return is not assessed, payment amounts will be based on information from 2018 tax returns.

Taxpayers who are unable to file a return or make a payment by the deadlines as a result of COVID-19 can request the cancellation of penalty and interest charged to their account. Penalties and interest will not be charged if the new deadlines that the government has announced to tax-filing and payments are met. For more information about taxpayer relief and how to make a request to the CRA to have interest and/or penalties cancelled, please go to Canada.ca/taxpayer-relief. 

To reduce the administrative burdens and the necessity for taxpayers to meet with tax preparers in person, the CRA will recognize electronic signatures as having met the signature requirements of the ITA on a temporary basis. This will allow certain authorization forms (T183 Information Return for Electronic Filing of an Individual’s Income Tax and Benefit Return, or T183CORP Information Return for Corporations Filing Electronically), which normally require signed originals, to be signed electronically.

Free tax clinics^[62] will be held virtually on an interim basis to assist those who depend on this service while respecting physical distance guidelines. Clinics will have greater flexibility to receive and authenticate documents in various ways, including using video communication.