This time of year, many people are receiving the dreaded notice of assessment, concerning their personal taxes. If you watch television advertisements about tax returns all you hear about is getting your refund. However, many Canadians do not receive a refund, in fact, most self-employed Canadians will owe money when they file their 2018 tax returns.
Many of the Canadians who owe income tax will be unable to write a cheque to pay all of the bill at once. If this is your situation then the best thing to do is communicate with CRA and let them know that you will be paying your taxes over time. A strategy I have seen work, is to send a number of postdated cheques to CRA. Typically they will have cashed a few of them before anyone from the collection department contacts you and what you are going to say is that you have suggested a payment plan and they have accepted it by cashing the cheques. In my experience, as long as you are making payments, CRA will not seize your bank account or garnish your wages with your employer.
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