Financial Fridays – It’s That Time of the Year
IT’S TAX TIME!!!
It’s March 6th and that means there are 55 days left to get your personal income taxes filed on time!
Filing your income taxes is the best way to make sure you are getting all the benefits, credits, and refund money you are entitled to. If you have a low or moderate income or no income at all, filing your taxes is the only way to check your eligibility for things like the Ontario Trillium Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (which replaced the GST/HST Credit).
Filing your taxes is also required if you are applying for the Canada Dental Care Benefit and the Ontario Seniors Co-Payment Program (which lowers prescription drug costs for seniors).
There are many ways to get your income taxes filed. You can pay a business to file them, you can use free Community Volunteer Income Tax Program if you qualify, or you can do them yourself. Today, we are going to focus on doing them yourself.
The Canada Revenue Agency has a free service for eligible people with a lower income and a simple tax situation. It is called SimpleFile. The SimpleFile services will open on March 9th, 2026. There are three options through SimpleFile.
This is a free, secure option that takes between 10-20 minutes. Some people will receive invitations but you can use this option even if you didn’t receive an invitation. Thankfully, they have a quiz you can take to see if you are eligible AND IT WILL TAKE YOU LESS TIME THAN READING THE CRITERIA BELOW. There is a criteria which is:
- You are a resident of Canada for tax purposes from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2025.
- You do not have exempt income under the Indian Act.
- You either have no income, or your income is limited to specific income sources and below a specific amount
- Allowed income sources
| T4 | Employment Income |
| T4A | Canada Emergency Benefits |
| T4A (OAS) | Old Age Security pension |
| T4A (P) | Canada Pension Plan (CPP) or Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) |
| T4E | Employment Insurance benefits |
| T5 | Interest from Canadian sources |
| T4A (OAS) | Net federal supplements, including the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) |
| T5007 | Social assistance payments (OW, ODSP), income assistance payments, or Workers’ Compensation Benefits |
- Income limits – the income limit depends on:
- Which province or territory you lived in on December 31, 2025.
- Your Age on December 31, 2025
- Whether you qualify to receive the Disability Tax Credit (DTC)
- Your income source
- Income limits for Ontario
| If you are under 65 years old | If you are 65 years or older | ||
| If you don’t receive the DTC | If you do receive the DTC | If you don’t receive the DTC | If you do receive the DTC |
| $12,747 | $23,045 | $18,970 | $29,268 |
- You did not sell your principal residence in 2025.
- You were not bankrupt at any time in 2025.
- You are filing for yourself
- You did not repay any of the following in 2025:
- Federal COVID-19 benefits received from 2020 to 2022
- Home Buyer’s Plan
- Lifelong Learning Plan
- You did not own specified foreign property with a total cost amount of all property of more than $100,000 in Canadian dollars in 2025.
Offered by invitation only. The invitation package includes the paper return and provides the information you need to use this filing method, including the phone number to call. SimpleFile by Phone invitations are sent in March and during the Summer.
Offered by invitation only. The invitation package includes the paper return and provides the information you need to use this filing method. SimpleFile by Paper invitations are sent in Summer.
