The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) states that, “an individual may be subject to tax on income derived from gambling itself, if the gambling activities constitute carrying on the business of gambling.” This suggests that any person who partakes in gambling as a business exercise is therefore liable to pay taxes. May 17, 2014 The Canada Revenue Agency’s longstanding position on gambling profits is that “an individual may be subject to tax on income derived from gambling itself, if the gambling activities constitute carrying on the business of gambling.” Huge layoffs expected after second lockdown in Canada.
Plan ahead for tax-filing season. To avoid delays and to reduce your potential exposure to COVID-19, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) encourages you to sign up for direct deposit, and file online as early as February 22, 2021.
To receive benefit and credits to which you’re entitled to, you need to:
The due date for filing an income tax and benefit return and paying any related tax balance due is April 30, 2021.
Filing on time helps to avoid having any of your benefit and credit payments interrupted or stopped.
If you are self-employed or have a spouse or common-law partner who is self-employed, you both have to file a return by June 15, 2021.
To avoid late-filing penalties, pay any amount you owe by April 30, 2021. After this date, the CRA charges interest on what you owe until your balance is paid.
If you are filing a return for a deceased person, the due date depends on the date of death and if the person owned a business in 2020.
If you are the surviving spouse of a deceased person or common-law partner and you were living with the deceased, the due date for filing your return is the same as the due date for the deceased person’s return. However, if you have a balance owing, you must pay it on or before April 30, 2021.
Get everything you need to calculate your income and support any credits, deductions and expenses you want to claim.
If you were employed or had an investment income in 2020, your employer or financial institution will send you statements commonly referred to as ‘’slips’’. Here are some common examples:
If you received Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), or Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) payments, these are considered taxable income. You will need to file, and enter the total amount you received on your return. For any such payments, you will receive a T4A (for benefits issued by the CRA) and/or a T4E (for benefits issued by Service Canada) tax slip in the mail with the information to enter on your return. You can view tax slips online as of February in My Account.
If you have not received a tax slip for the current year, or you misplaced it, you can ask the issuer of the slip for a copy. You can also get copies of your slips by logging into the CRA’s My Account service.
To file your return, choose one secure option below.
You will find a list of certified desktop, online, and mobile software products at canada.ca/netfile-software. Some of the software is free.
COVID-19 may cause significant delays in processing paper returns, as well as delivering notices of assessment and cheques in the mail. The CRA will process paper returns in the order it receives them.
Since these delays do not impact processing electronic returns, the CRA encourages you to sign up for direct deposit and file your 2020 return online. This will help you get any refund faster and avoid interruptions to any benefit and credit payments. If you are registered for direct deposit, you will receive your payments without delay.
If you filed your taxes on paper last year, the CRA will automatically mail you the 2020 Income tax package by February 19, 2021.
You can see, download and order forms and publications as of January 18, 2021 at canada.ca/taxes-general-package. Starting February 5, 2021, you can call the CRA at 1-855-330-3305 to order forms and publications.
The CRA offers an automated phone service called File my Return. This free service lets you complete and file your return by phone. The service is available to eligible Canadians who have low or fixed incomes and whose tax situation doesn’t change from year to year. If you are eligible for File my Return, the CRA will mail an invitation letter to you by mid-February.
Through the CRA’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, community organizations host free tax clinics for Canadians with a modest income and simple tax situation. Volunteers may be able to complete and file returns for free, by videoconference, by phone, or through a document drop-off arrangement. Free tax clinics are generally offered between March and April across Canada, with some offered year-round. To learn more or to find a tax clinic near you, go to canada.ca/taxes-help.
To save time when you file your return, keep your personal information up-to-date with the CRA. Tell the CRA if any of the following has changed:
It is important to let the CRA know about these changes as soon as possible, to make sure you get the right benefit and credits you are entitled to.
The fastest way to update your information is online through My Account.
Income is money you earn through employment, self-employment, and investments you have, or benefits you receive. On your return, you must report income from all sources, both inside and outside Canada. This is true even if you were paid in cash, which includes money you earn as a side job or tips you have received.
If you received Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB), Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), or Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) payments, these are considered taxable income. You will need to file, and enter the total amount you received on your return. In addition, you may owe tax when filing your return. This will depend on your personal circumstances, and the type of COVID-19 benefits you received:
There may be other impacts to filing your tax return that are specific to the COVID-19 benefit you received, or if you are a resident in Quebec.
Reduce the amount of tax you pay by claiming your deductions, expenses and tax credits. You’ll have to use the receipts and records you kept during the year to support your claims.
There are several ways to send your tax return to the CRA:
Regardless of how you send your return, you must keep all your tax documents for at least six years. For example, if you are filing for the 2020 tax year, you have to keep your documents for that year and for 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015. If you claimed expenses, deductions or tax credits, keep all your receipts and any related documents in case the CRA asks to see them.
If you file online and are registered for CRA email notifications, you can use the Express NOA service to get your notice of assessment (NOA) soon after you file.
If you file online and choose direct deposit, you could receive your refund in eight business days. To help provide better service to Canadians, we have partnered with many Canadian financial institutions to offer CRA direct deposit enrolment online through your financial institution’s website. If you send the CRA a paper return, it generally takes eight weeks before the CRA issues your notice of assessment and any refund. This may take longer due to COVID-19, so the CRA encourages you to file online and sign up for direct deposit.
There are many ways to pay a balance owed to the CRA. To avoid interest or penalties, pay any amount you owe no later than April 30, 2020. After this date, the CRA will charge interest on what you owe until your balance is paid. Interest applies after April 30, 2020, even if you are self-employed.
If you cannot pay the full balance you owe, you can make a payment arrangement with the CRA. In certain circumstances, the CRA can grant relief from penalty and interest.
If you forgot to include information or made a mistake on your tax return, wait until you get your notice of assessment from the CRA. Then, you can change your return. To avoid delays due to COVID-19, the CRA encourages you to make any changes to your return electronically.
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They say that the only two sure things in life are death and taxes. But if you happen to be a recreational gambler in Canada, you can remove the tax element from that equation!
Thanks to consumer-friendly laws in this country, if a Canadian player wins at an online casino, the winnings are tax-free. You will not be hounded by the tax authorities and you won’t be asked to declare your winnings. So enjoy chasing these jackpots and if you are lucky enough to win, keep everything you won!
The Canadian Income Tax Act rules that casino winnings (online and offline) are not taxable. Therefore Canadian online gamblers can go into their sessions, safe in the knowledge that their winnings are tax-free.
The law goes all the way back to British legislation which stated, in principle, that the winnings that come from placing a bet should not be taxed, while the winnings of a bookmaker taking the bet should be taxed.
Only if you are a professional gambler, and winnings are deemed income from your business, you could be taxed on your prizes.
Canada Revenue Agency’s position is that “an individual may be subject to tax on income derived from gambling itself, if the gambling activities constitute carrying on the business of gambling.” Note that this includes all currencies besides just CAD, although it’s questionable if bitcoin gambling is included here.
However, it should be stressed that in the past, when gamblers have appealed a Minister’s assessment that taxes should be paid on gambling winnings, the courts have been reluctant to resolve in favour of the authorities.
As such, unless your winnings are directly related to your vocation (as a professional, self-declared gambler), you can rest assured that your winnings are tax-free.
It is clear that when you go into a gaming session knowing that every cent you make is yours to keep at the end of the evening, you’re a happy camper.
While players from other countries may have to give up huge percentages of their jackpot winnings to their governments, Canadians are extremely lucky that even life-changing, multiple-figure sums are theirs to bank.
As such, Canadian players are among the most numerous at online casinos that offer big jackpot prizes and regularly place a significant part of their bankroll on progressive games where jackpots climb to over ten million Canadian dollars.
Canada has the best tax laws in the world, when it comes to recreational gambling.
You don’t need to pay a cent in taxes, which makes winning jackpots much more satisfying and allows maximum returns when playing online.
Bottom line is that if you don’t go about declaring yourself a professional gambler, you get to keep everything you win. No matter how much you win.