Question Period Note: BENEFIT PAYMENT EXTENSIONS – NON-FILERS

When will benefits payment extensions come to an end?

• The Government of Canada has put measures in place to support Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Canada Revenue Agency (Agency) is working to ensure that eligible Canadians continue to receive the Canada child benefit (CCB) and/or the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit and related provincial and territorial programs until the end of September 2020.

• The Agency extended these payments for benefits recipients who were unable to file their 2019 returns by the June 1st deadline, based on their 2018 tax information.
• If these benefit recipients still haven’t filed their 2019 tax return, they need to do so as soon as possible to avoid any future interruptions.
• Once their 2019 tax return is filed and assessed, if they are still eligible, their payments will continue or will be reinstated (if they had ceased).
Supplementary:
• While the number of benefit recipients who did not file their taxes on time was lower than last year, there are still Canadians who were eligible in 2018 for the CCB or GST/HST credit who have not yet filed their 2019 income tax returns.

The payment extension period that allowed Canadians who had not yet filed their taxes to receive benefits such as the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) or the GST/HST credit from the CRA has now come to an end.

As of early September 2020, there were still Canadians who were eligible to receive CCB and/or GST/HST credit who will cease to receive their benefits in October due to the late filing of their returns

The CRA believes that the measures put in place like the extension, the virtual tax clinics, and the many communications and outreach activities, helped significantly reduce the number of non-filers, compared to last year.

For example, during the 2019-2020 CVITP program year, through free tax clinics, more than 18,970 CVITP volunteers and 3,810 organizations helped prepare over 467,370 income tax and benefit returns. Additionally, over 165,000 have been filed since May through free CVITP clinics delivered through virtual or other physically distancing methods.

The CRA also introduced the Individual Tax Filing Assistance Initiative, a temporary measure to help Canadians with modest incomes and a simple tax situation file their outstanding 2019 income tax and benefit return. Through this initiative, CRA officers have reached out to over 4,000 individuals to promote free tax clinics in their area and online certified tax software (some of which are free). If those options are not available to the individual, the CRA officer will offer to complete the 2019 income tax and
benefit return over the telephone.

National Post, November 19, 2020: More than 800,000 ineligible people received CERB, at cost of nearly $1.7B, CRA documents reveal