Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

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IdOp
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Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by IdOp »

If you have a balance owning on your 2016 taxes, there's a positive amount at line 485 of the return. In the discussion of this line on page 70 of the General Income Tax and Benefit Guide 2016, CRA lists several methods of paying the balance owing. I noticed that the option of paying by cheque is no longer mentioned there. This is a change from the 2015 Guide where (page 66) instructions on cheque payment are clearly given as one of the options. The 2016 Guide also refers to this CRA link, which contains much the same information, also without mentioning cheques.

This leads to the question:

"Is it still possible to pay 2016 taxes by cheque?"

They don't say you can anymore, but they also don't say you can't. Given that "can't" would be a radical change for this year, surely they would say you can't if this were indeed the case?

I did some web searching on this question. I found nothing current on the CRA site one way or the other. In a wider search I found the following Receiver General FAQ which says:
Q17. How do I pay money I owe to the Government of Canada?

A. All departments accept payment by cheque made to the Receiver General for Canada. Cheque payments should be mailed to the issuing department or agency, or at the Cheque Redemption and Control Directorate, located at <address snipped>.
This seems to be confirmation that 2016 tax can still be paid by cheque mailed to CRA.

[vent]
I get that cheque usage is declining, and has some costs and delays associated wtih it. My reading of these tea leaves is that CRA has gone on a Pravda-like experiment to see how many cheque users they can con into using a method more to CRA's liking by deliberately giving them incomplete information. I find this disturbing. :(
[/vent]

It's ironic that one of the payment methods CRA still deigns to mention in the 2016 Guide is this:

* Call CRA and ask for a remittance voucher;
* They mail it to you and you take it to a bank branch;
* You pay the teller (perhaps with cash or a cheque!);
* The bank forwards the amount of your payment electronically to CRA.

This is more efficient than paying by cheque? :roll:

I'd be glad to hear of any other information which clarifies this question.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by kcowan »

They used to allow 5 days for the cheque to arrive via the post and clear after April 30th. I suspect they still do. When they first implemented eTransfers, I used to delay my transfer for 4 days. I don't know if I could still do that. I think they are counting on your uncertainty! I would post a cheque on April 30th and look for penalties.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by IdOp »

Yes, when I was looking at this, I also looked at their stuff about when the payment is due. ISTM (in a quick reading) it could be interpreted to mean that a cheque mailed along with a tax return on the final day could be a late payment, even though the return itself is not late because of the postmark. Now, I've never had a problem with doing that. But, assuming the payment was deemed a few days late this year, I estimated the interest to be less than $1 (my amount owing is small). Since they seem to ignore errors of less than $2, perhaps they would ignore this too, I don't know, but will see what happens.

Also, for mailing a return at least, April 30 this year means May 1 due to a weekend.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by amphitryon »

IdOp wrote: 25 Apr 2017 14:02....This leads to the question:

"Is it still possible to pay 2016 taxes by cheque?"
I see no reason not to and just mailed a small payment re. a T3 amount owing; did not want to set up an extra payee in my on-line banking, and am quite certain, they'll cash it.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by DenisD »

I netfiled my return a few weeks ago. A few days ago I got the email to check My Account. My Notice of Assessment says:
We assessed your 2016 income tax and benefit return and calculated your balance.

You need to pay $******** minus any amounts you paid that we have not processed yet.

To avoid additional interest charges please pay by May 15, 2017.
So I guess I don't have to pay until May 15.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by ghariton »

When I set up a direct deposit for my refund a few days ago, their website informed me that, because of the timing, my refund this year might still be made by mailing me a check.

If they can pay me by check, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to pay them by check.

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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by DenisD »

Just noticed that they now call it income tax and benefit return. Is the benefit new?
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by IdOp »

amphitryon wrote:... did not want to set up an extra payee in my on-line banking ...
Same here. If I paid the balance owing this way, I'd just have to delete the payee after making the payment (repeat this every year), because I don't want to send my installment bill payments to the wrong place. For me attaching a cheque to my paper return is by far the easiest way.
ghariton wrote:If they can pay me by check, I don't see why I shouldn't be able to pay them by check.
IIRC they will imminently stop refunding by cheque. I don't want them to use that as a "reason" they can't be paid by cheque anymore either.
DenisD wrote:Just noticed that they now call it income tax and benefit return. Is the benefit new?
A quick look in my drawer shows the Guides have been called Income Tax and Benefit back to 2013 (at least).
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by AltaRed »

Personally, I really cannot imagine why anyone would want to pay by any other method than electronic bill payment. I avoid cheques like the plague.

It's called an income tax and benefit return because it is the way to also to obtain benefits, e.g. the GST/HST tax credit.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by Norbert Schlenker »

I used to do it all the time after degaussing the MICR. The cheque would often not clear my account until mid-May. :rofl:
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by scorpionman »

What if you're no longer in Canada and have no Canadian bank account, how do you pay a Canadian CRA debt?
Wire transfer?
Get a relative to pay?
foreign check?
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by AltaRed »

From Page 68 of https://www.cchwebsites.com/content/pdf ... 13g_en.pdf
If you or your representative does not have a bank account at a financial institution in Canada, you or your representative can send your payment using:
■ a wire transfer in Canadian dollars;
■ an international money order drawn in Canadian dollars; or
■ a bank draft in Canadian funds drawn on a Canadian bank.
For more information, go to cra.gc.ca/payments or contact your financial institution. If you want to mail your payment to the CRA, attach it to the front of your return. Please ensure it is made out to the Receiver General. Write your social insurance number, individual tax number, or temporary tax number on the payment to help us process it correctly. For more information, see “Social insurance number (SIN)” on page 15
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by kcowan »

Have you looked at Visa Direct or Visa personal payments? There is the 2.5% FX fee plus a charge similar to Interac eTransfers. It depends on whether your card issuer supports this. It is cheaper than other transfer schemes.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by scorpionman »

What if the other country has no Canadian dollars ?
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by AltaRed »

scorpionman wrote: 12 Jun 2017 11:09 What if the other country has no Canadian dollars ?
There is always a way to get a real bank to send CAD

EditedL
Last edited by AltaRed on 12 Jun 2017 15:20, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by amphitryon »

I just recently paid a German tax bill with a Visa transfer from Canada and in Euro. No extra costs except the exchange (I'm over 65 and have a CIBC account).Most EU countries now also have this type of transfer, should you be there.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by jeremy »

It is also possible to pay the CRA by credit card through Plastiq. IIRC, they add a ~3% charge, which could be partially offset by credit card rewards/cashback.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by CROCKD »

IdOp wrote:Call CRA and ask for a remittance voucher;
This happened with a friend of mine much to the consternation of the bank teller because the form they sent her apparently was for a payment of GST.
When she texted me I told her to tell them the payment was for 2016 taxes not 2017 installments. It was a small amount in the double digits. CRA efficiency at work!!
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by OptsyEagle »

I don't know if anyone actually answered the OP exact question, but I owed CRA a few hundred dollars in 2016 and noticed that they were not offering a cheque option for payments. I made the assumption that they would probably not return a cheque if given one and if I was wrong they would return it. Guess what. They cashed it immediately.

So yes, CRA is still happy to take a cheque. I wrote it payable to "Canada Revenue Agency".

I should add. I send in paper returns.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by AltaRed »

I believe the correct payee should be "Receiver General" but I imagine CRA's banker does not really care.
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Re: Paying 2016 Tax by Cheque

Post by IdOp »

I should also follow up. Based on the information at the Receiver General website, I mailed my paper return with a cheque as usual. It has since been cashed.
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