Canada Revenue Agency
www.cra.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Current-year option
This option is best for you if your 2012 income, deductions, and credits will be significantly different from those in 2010 and 2011.
If you choose this option, you have to calculate your instalment payments based on your estimated current-year (2012) net tax owing, any Canada Pension Plan contributions payable, and any voluntary Employment Insurance premiums. Use the Calculation chart for instalment payments to help you calculate your total instalment amount due and pay one-quarter of this amount on each instalment due date.
If you use the current-year option and make the payments in full by their 2012 due dates, we will not charge instalment interest or a penalty unless the amounts you estimated when calculating your total instalment amount due were too low. For more information, see Interest and penalty charges.
Example
Jesse has to pay his tax by instalments in 2012. However, since Jesse's investment income decreased this year, he knows he will owe less tax in 2012, and as a result, he can make lower instalment payments than he did in 2010 and 2011. Using a 2011 income tax and benefit return, the Calculation chart for instalment payments, and his 2012 income estimates, he calculates that his total instalment amount due will be $5,000.
Using the current-year option, Jesse makes four instalment payments in 2012, based on his calculations, as follows:
| Instalment payments | |
|---|---|
| March 15 | $1,250 |
| June 15 | $1,250 |
| September 15 | $1,250 |
| December 15 | $1,250 |
| Total | $5,000 |
