Prince George, B.C. – With tax season right around the corner, the Canada Revenue Agency is offering some new tax credits and enhanced services while also reminding people there are consequences for failing to file on time.

“We have new and improved benefits and credits,” says Rick Gill, a CRA resource officer. “The Canada child benefit (CCB) – the tax free monthly payment for eligible families. We also have the eligible educator school supply tax credit and that’s where eligible educators could claim a 15 per cent refundable tax credit based up to $1,000 of eligible teaching supplies.”

In terms of enhanced services, he says there’s the Express Notice of Assessment.

“This service delivers an instant assessment result and provides a notice of assessment directly into the certified tax software if you’re electronically filing the next day,” says Gill. “We also have the account alert. This new service notifies you by email when an address has been changed, banking information or direct deposit information has changed. You can register for that through our online service called My Account.”

He says it’s also important to note there’s been changes to the income splitting tax in that the family tax cut has been eliminated and that changes to the children’s fitness tax credit means the maximum eligible fees in the year is reduced from $1,000 to $500.

Gill adds there is a vast array of options in terms of electronic filing software which can be found by clicking here.

Those who fail to file by the May 1 deadline (It’s been extended a day because April 30 falls on a Sunday this year) also face penalties.

“The penalty is 5 per cent of your 2016 balance owing plus 1 per cent of your balance owing for each full month that your return is late. That’s to a maximum of 12 months,” he says. “If we file a late filing penalty on your previous returns the late filing penalty may be 10 per cent of your 2016 balance owing plus two per cent of your 2016 owing for each full month that your return is late.”

As of March 6, the CRA said over 2.5 million tax returns had been completed. 91 per cent of those were done electronically.

They are expecting 28 million returns by the end of 2017.

*Editor’s note: The CRA website was back up and running last night. On Friday it was down due to security concerns.