# Online banking CRA payments



## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

I have an amount owing on my personal 2020 tax return. When I looked at the Bill Payments at my online bank, I see a couple payees which matches what CRA describes at their web site:

Tax amount owing
vs
2020 tax (can only be used once)

The potential complication here is that my accountant hasn't yet finished my return and if I'm down to the wire, I might pay the amount based on a rough draft estimate. And then if they finalize my return by April 30, I might pay a little bit _more_ to get the exact amount as the tax return.

Would this work if I use the 'Tax amount owing' payee, twice back to back?

e.g. for a 2020 tax return where the amount owing is $3026,
April 28, pay $3000
April 29, pay $26


By the way, this is exactly why I hate non-registered ETFs and those T3s they generate. I had my entire return figured out much earlier, but then I sat and waited for T3s to show up. May not be a problem when preparing your own return, but if you use a tax preparer, this just adds to the time pressures.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

I would do the 2020 payment and then wait for a subsequent NOA that demands more tax owing. The way the CRA is working these days, don't hold your breath!


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

james4beach said:


> When I looked at the Bill Payments at my online bank, I see a couple payees


Weird. With TD I see three, "2020 amount owing remittance", "2021 instalment remittance" and another generic "amount owing remittance". There is no mention of single-use that I can see.

Annoying that it won't let me copy/paste the list.

I see that on the CRA site they don't want you to use the current year one more than once. I don't see why a restriction like that should exist or what they can do to stop you. If I had just used the payees that TD offers, I don't think I would have any clue.


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

I haven't paid any tax yet and only just got my slips to the accountant yesterday. I wait till my accountant has filed, then pay what I owe. Never had an issue.


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## Numbersman61 (Jan 26, 2015)

gardner said:


> Weird. With TD I see three, "2020 amount owing remittance", "2021 instalment remittance" and another generic "amount owing remittance".. There is no mention of single-use that I can see.
> 
> Annoying that it won't let me copy/paste the list.


Actually when you are on the TD bill payments section, you can check “Add Payee” and you will see a number of additional CRA payee options.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Mechanic said:


> I haven't paid any tax yet and only just got my slips to the accountant yesterday. I wait till my accountant has filed, then pay what I owe. Never had an issue.


Aren't we (you and I as well) running close to the deadline then? Am I taking that April 30 deadline too seriously?


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

kcowan said:


> I would do the 2020 payment and then wait for a subsequent NOA that demands more tax owing. The way the CRA is working these days, don't hold your breath!


That sounds reasonable.



gardner said:


> I see that on the CRA site they don't want you to use the current year one more than once. I don't see why a restriction like that should exist or what they can do to stop you. If I had just used the payees that TD offers, I don't think I would have any clue.


Yeah, I'm just going by what the CRA web site says. I just want to make sure that my payment(s) are correctly matched up with my liabilities.

Is there any downside to using the more generic "Tax amount owing" option, not tied to the current year? Does sending money there confuse the CRA somehow?


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

This year I selected CRA installments instead of CRA tax owing from the bill payment options on our bank account when paying DW's tax. It was credited to her 2021 installments instead of her tax owning. It happens.

No problem, called CRA and had the money moved over to her current tax account. The only downside was waiting on hold for 20 minutes to speak with an agent. The interest charge on the current account was reversed to match the original payment date.

One difference though...our CIBC and EQ banks use slightly different descriptors for these. I think this is why I might have selected the incorrect EQ payment direction choice.


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## Money172375 (Jun 29, 2018)

james4beach said:


> That sounds reasonable.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


you can also pay direct from the CRA My account website once you’ve been assessed. I think the generic “tax amount owing” is fine if using online banking


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## Spudd (Oct 11, 2011)

This year they won't charge interest/penalties until I think April next year, if you received any Covid-related benefits and also made under 75k. I don't know if that's you, but if it is, you could hold off until you get the final numbers.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Spudd said:


> This year they won't charge interest/penalties until I think April next year, if you received any Covid-related benefits and also made under 75k. I don't know if that's you, but if it is, you could hold off until you get the final numbers.


That's interesting, thanks. I didn't know.


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## BC Eddie (Feb 2, 2014)

Just an FYI - I see on my notice of assessment for the 2020 tax year it now says that payment is due by May 5, 2021.


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## Tostig (Nov 18, 2020)

I have started and am trying to make it a regular practice to pay the taxes owing a few weeks before netfiling my return.

This is to mitigate or try to avoid a CRA letter advising they have not recieved payment.


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## ian (Jun 18, 2016)

We both pay our installments when they are due and any tax owing after we get the NOA. Recently made some changes on DW's past return resulting in an NOA with tax owing. The tax owing showed up once we submitted the change request as tax outstanding-the NOA was issued a week later.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Thanks for the ideas above. I think I've got a final number on the tax return now, so I did the bill payment to CRA - 2020 tax.

I noticed that under CRA's My Account, there's a part where it shows balances and payment activity. Does anyone know how quickly this will update to show a new payment coming from online banking?


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## Gator13 (Jan 5, 2020)

Will start a new thread with my question. Sorry


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Spudd said:


> This year they won't charge interest/penalties until I think April next year, if you received any Covid-related benefits and also made under 75k. I don't know if that's you, but if it is, you could hold off until you get the final numbers.


I made over 75k so this won't apply to me, unfortunately.

A follow-up question. I paid the amount due as per the tax software and sent in the payment. I thought this would be the end of the story, but looking at My Account, I see the tax filing activity plus some assessment, and CRA is showing a future-dated assessment (May 5) and a small balance of $50.

What should I do in that situation? Maybe I should just pay the extra $50 immediately, before Friday, assuming this really is CRA's final assessment and they think I still owe more tax?

I could wait until I receive the Notice of Assessment, but would sending in the small amount today avoid penalties? I'm trying to avoid trouble.


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## like_to_retire (Oct 9, 2016)

If you pay too much, won't CRA just send you a refund?

ltr


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

like_to_retire said:


> If you pay too much, won't CRA just send you a refund?


That's a good point. There's no harm in paying too much.


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

Signed our taxes yesterday so they could be e-filed. Then paid our taxes, choosing the CRA (REVENUE) 2020 TAX Option. I suppose I could get assessed a penalty, as I didn't make instalments as suggested last year ? Will see when the notice shows up. Accountant's office said they were very busy, lots of people wait till the deadline I guess.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Mechanic said:


> Accountant's office said they were very busy, lots of people wait till the deadline I guess.


I didn't wait until the deadline. I had most of my taxes done in February, then I got screwed yet again by these T3 slips which show up very late. By the time I can get the details to the busy accountant, and then correct the mistakes I catch in their draft filling, we're at April 28.

I hate T3 slips and how late they come.


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## Money172375 (Jun 29, 2018)

james4beach said:


> I made over 75k so this won't apply to me, unfortunately.
> 
> A follow-up question. I paid the amount due as per the tax software and sent in the payment. I thought this would be the end of the story, but looking at My Account, I see the tax filing activity plus some assessment, and CRA is showing a future-dated assessment (May 5) and a small balance of $50.
> 
> ...


I think you’re fine if you pay the amount owing based on your submission. Have they formally ad I see you the NOA is ready? If not, I would wait til it’s delivered to you (by mail or email), then make the payment. I recall making payments behind April 30 and nothing was ever done.


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## james4beach (Nov 15, 2012)

Money172375 said:


> I think you’re fine if you pay the amount owing based on your submission. Have they formally ad I see you the NOA is ready? If not, I would wait til it’s delivered to you (by mail or email), then make the payment. I recall making payments behind April 30 and nothing was ever done.


I haven't seen a formal NoA. The only reason I think I might owe more is that there is a balance owing showing on My Account, but the NOA has not been generated yet.


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

james4beach said:


> I didn't wait until the deadline. I had most of my taxes done in February, then I got screwed yet again by these T3 slips which show up very late. By the time I can get the details to the busy accountant, and then correct the mistakes I catch in their draft filling, we're at April 28.
> 
> I hate T3 slips and how late they come.


I usually get my personal and corp taxes done as soon as I get all my slips together etc. I was a bit later this year due to personal family issues. Accountant asked me to take my corp stuff in later due to the heavy load of late personals they were dealing with


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