Canadians will have an extra 15 days to file their income tax returns under a federal budget proposal that would move the annual deadline from April 30 to May 15 for the first time since the Second World War.Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the change will save taxpayers and small businesses time and money by reducing the number of amended returns filed because of late-arriving tax slips and receipts.Blacklock's Reporter said Champagne highlighted the proposal during a speech to the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, describing it as part of a broader overhaul of Canada's tax system.“Some of the things we’ve done in the budget are probably some of the most transformational in the tax system that we have seen in a long, long time, in decades,” Champagne said.“I’ll give you an example, just moving from the 30th of April to the 15th of May.”The minister said the current deadline forces many Canadians to submit their returns before receiving all the documentation needed to complete them accurately.“It sounds like you just changed two weeks,” he said. “Do you know how many people were filing amended tax returns in this country? It was phenomenal.”The Canada Revenue Agency has not disclosed how many Canadians filed amended returns last year.However, the agency reported receiving 33,815,790 income tax returns, including approximately two million submitted on paper.Champagne questioned why Ottawa had maintained the April 30 deadline for decades despite the administrative burden it creates.“I said, why do we stick to that?” he said.“Because people did not get their certificates on time, people had to file amended returns. By moving that, we’re saving people’s time, and small businesses. They won’t have to file an amended return.”.The minister suggested additional changes to the tax system could follow.“So, in terms of tax simplification, I am just getting started,” he said.The proposed deadline extension was included in the federal government's November 5 budget, titled Masters Of Our Destiny.“Budget 2026 proposes to change the T1 filing and balance-due dates to May 15 for all individuals including self-employed individuals and their spouses or common law partners,” the budget stated.“These measures would apply to the 2027 and subsequent taxation years.”The change would also move the deadline for paying outstanding personal income taxes to May 15.Self-employed Canadians and their spouses or common-law partners would be covered by the new filing and payment deadlines.The proposal would not take effect until the 2027 tax year, meaning it would first apply to returns filed in 2028, provided the changes receive parliamentary approval.Canada's personal income tax system dates back to 1917, when Parliament passed the Income War Tax Act to help finance the First World War.The original filing deadline was February 28, with taxpayers required to make annual payments in a lump sum using cash or cheque.The federal government introduced a limited withholding tax in 1933, applying a 5% tax to dividends paid to non-residents.During the Second World War, Ottawa moved the annual income tax filing deadline to April 30, where it has remained for more than eight decades.The war also brought major changes to how Canadians paid taxes.In 1942, the federal government introduced automatic biweekly payroll deductions, establishing the pay-as-you-go system still used today.That same year, Ottawa introduced provisions allowing deductions for medical expenses and business losses.Other milestones in Canadian tax history include the introduction of charitable donation tax credits in 1930 and joint federal-provincial income tax collection in most provinces beginning in 1946, excluding Quebec.One of the most extraordinary wartime measures came under the 1942 Excess Profits Tax Act, which established a top tax rate of 100% on certain excess business profits.The latest proposal would mark the first major change to Canada's annual personal income tax filing deadline since the wartime shift to April 30.Champagne maintains the extension will make tax filing easier for millions of Canadians while reducing unnecessary paperwork for taxpayers and the Canada Revenue Agency.
