Most people with a job, a T4 and a few common deductions can file their own return safely, and many can do it for free. A professional starts to pay off when you have self-employment, rental or foreign income, crypto, an estate to settle, or a letter from the CRA you don’t understand.
Who can safely file alone
If your income comes from employment, pension, EI or similar slips, and your claims are the usual ones (RRSP contributions, tuition, childcare, medical expenses, donations), software will handle it. The slips tell you what to enter, and the software does the arithmetic.
Being comfortable with a form matters more than the number of boxes. If you can read a T4 and follow on-screen prompts, you can file. If you owned a business, sold a property or moved countries during the year, the odds of a mistake go up quickly.
Free tax clinics through the CVITP
The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) runs free clinics hosted by community organizations. Volunteers complete returns for people with a modest income and a simple tax situation. Clinics can be in person or virtual, and the CRA has a clinic locator on its free tax clinics page.
The general income limits are based on total family income: $40,000 for one person, $55,000 for two, $60,000 for three, $65,000 for four and $70,000 for five. Above five people it’s $70,000 plus $5,000 for each extra person. Organizations may adjust these limits locally, so call ahead if you’re close.
Clinics will not do returns that involve self-employment income, business or rental income, capital gains or losses, foreign property (Form T1135), most foreign income, or a deceased person’s return. They also don’t handle interest income above $1,200 or a bankruptcy in the year or the year before. If any of that is you, skip ahead to the section on paid help.
NETFILE software and free options
NETFILE is the CRA’s system for sending your return electronically from CRA-certified tax software. For 2026, NETFILE and ReFILE are open from February 23, 2026 until January 29, 2027, which also covers late returns for several earlier years.
Some certified products are free, some are free only for certain incomes or situations, and some ask you to pay what you want. The CRA’s page for finding certified software lets you filter by cost. Check the fine print before you start typing, because some packages charge for specific forms at the end.
Auto-fill My Return saves typing
Auto-fill My Return pulls the tax slips the CRA already has into your software. You need to be registered for CRA My Account, and the service only uses what the CRA holds at the moment you ask. Slips filed late by an employer or bank may not appear yet, so compare the result against your own paper or PDF copies.
If you haven’t registered, do it before filing season. Locked accounts and lost passwords take time to fix, and our CRA My Account guide covers sign-in and tracking your return.
When a professional helps
Paid help makes sense in these situations:
- Self-employment or a side business, especially with home-office, vehicle or GST/HST questions. Our self-employed tax calculator shows roughly what you might owe.
- Rental income, where expenses, capital cost allowance and co-ownership split all matter.
- Crypto sales, swaps or income. Gains are taxed at a 50% inclusion rate, and the record-keeping across exchanges is the hard part.
- A deceased person’s return or an estate, which has its own rules and extra filings.
- Foreign income or foreign property over reporting thresholds.
- An audit, review letter or reassessment, where a professional can speak to the CRA for you.
Look for a chartered professional accountant or a preparer who will sign the return and tell you their fee before they start. Ask whether they will file electronically and give you a full copy. Fees vary widely and depend on the complexity of your file, so get a quote.
Deadlines and penalties
The filing deadline for most people is April 30. Self-employed people and their spouses or partners have until June 15 to file, but any balance owing is still due April 30.
File late with a balance owing and the CRA charges a penalty of 5% of the balance, plus 1% for each full month late, up to 12 months. Say you owe $2,000 and file three full months late. The penalty is $100 for the 5% plus $60 for three months, so $160, before interest.
If something serious kept you from filing, you can ask for taxpayer relief with Form RC4288 or through My Account. It covers periods within the last 10 calendar years and needs extraordinary circumstances. See our late-filing penalty relief guide for how it works. Even with no balance owing, filing on time protects benefits such as the Canada Child Benefit and the Ontario Trillium Benefit.
What to gather before you start
For a clinic, bring valid government photo ID, your social insurance number, your slips, your receipts and, if you have it, last year’s Notice of Assessment. Software users need the same items.
- T4, T4A, T5 and other slips, plus RRSP and FHSA contribution receipts
- Receipts for tuition, medical costs, donations and childcare
- Your last Notice of Assessment, which shows your RRSP room
- Your spouse or partner’s net income, and dependants’ details
The CRA says to keep records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. That applies even when you file electronically and don’t attach receipts.
How to check the result
Before you send it, read the summary page. Does your total income match the slips? Did the RRSP deduction and tax already paid carry over? A number that looks off by thousands usually means a mistyped slip or a duplicate.
Run your own estimate as a cross-check with the income tax calculator, then compare the refund or balance to the software’s answer. Small differences can come from credits. Big ones need a second look.
After filing, the CRA sends a Notice of Assessment, which you can also see in My Account. Compare it to what you filed. If it differs, read the explanation before doing anything. A notice of objection is usually due within 90 days, so don’t let it sit. Related tools: the GST / HST calculator, plus all our tax calculators.
Sources
- Free tax clinics (CRA)
- Get your taxes done at a free tax clinic (CRA)
- Tax software for filing personal taxes (CRA)
- Auto-fill My Return (CRA)
- How long to keep your income tax records (CRA)
Common questions
Can I file my own taxes in Ontario for free?
Do free tax clinics handle self-employment income?
What is the penalty for filing late?
How long should I keep my tax records?
Last reviewed: . Figures come from the official sources listed above. How we check the numbers and our editorial policy.