Paying GST/HST to the CRA? A 2026 guide to the payment methods: My Payment with Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard, online banking, pre-authorized debit, when payment is due, the $10,000 electronic rule, and what happens if you are late.
Applies in: across Canada
Filing and paying are two separate acts with the same deadline. Your return tells the CRA what you owe; the payment is how you settle it. Most Canadian businesses pay through CRA My Payment with a Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard (no CRA fee), through online banking with the CRA's GST/HST payee, or by pre-authorized debit inside their CRA account. The payment is due on the same date as the return — monthly and quarterly filers one month after the period ends, annual filers three months after fiscal year-end, with individuals paying by April 30.
The two facts that catch people out: the CRA counts your payment as received when the financial institution processes it, not when you click pay — and payments of $10,000 or more must be electronic, with a $100 penalty per failure. Initiate bank payments a few business days before the deadline rather than on the day.
1. CRA My Payment — the direct debit form. The CRA's own payment service takes Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard from a participating Canadian bank or credit union, and the CRA charges no fee for it. The logos say Debit, not credit — an actual credit card will not work here. The CRA removed Interac Debit from My Payment in September 2024, so if your card only carries the Interac logo, use online banking instead.
2. Online banking bill payment. Add the CRA's GST/HST payment as a payee — banks label it slightly differently, usually something like "CRA (Revenue) GST/HST" — and use your 15-character business number as the account number. Free, and the option most accountants prefer because the paper trail lives in the bank statement.
3. Pre-authorized debit (PAD). Set it up inside your CRA My Business Account, or right after you file through GST/HST NETFILE. You pick the amount and the date, and the CRA pulls from your Canadian chequing account. PAD needs 5 or more business days of lead time between setup and the payment date, and you can view, modify, cancel, or skip payments in your account afterwards. A PAD agreement can only be set up online, not over the phone.
4. Credit card, Interac e-transfer or PayPal through a third-party service provider. The CRA itself does not take credit cards, but authorized third-party providers will process them — with a processing fee. Useful when cash flow forces you to put the tax on a card; expensive enough to be the last resort.
5. In person or by mail. Pay at your financial institution with a remittance voucher (RC158 for payment on filing, RC159 for an amount owing), or mail a cheque payable to the Receiver General with the voucher. Paying in person at a bank with a voucher counts as an electronic payment for the $10,000 rule. Mail is the slowest option: payment is considered received on the date the CRA receives the cheque, not the postmark date. Remittance vouchers are personalized — order them through your CRA account or by phone, since they are not on the website.
Cash cannot be mailed to the CRA — Canada Post is the only place the CRA accepts a cash payment. At any Canada Post retail outlet across Canada you can pay with cash or a debit card using a QR code: generate one in your CRA account ("Pay in person at any Canada Post outlet using a QR code") or use the QR code printed on your remittance voucher. Canada Post uses PaySimply, a third-party service provider, to process the payment, and a service fee is charged at the counter, based on the amount you pay. The clerk scans your QR code and asks how much you want to pay — they cannot see your CRA account. One limit to know: if the amount is more than $3,000 (or your daily transaction limit, whichever is less), split it into multiple payments with the same QR code; a fee may apply to each transaction, and photo ID may be requested above $3,000.
| Frequency | Pay by |
|---|---|
| Monthly | 1 month after the period ends (January period → February 28) |
| Quarterly | 1 month after the quarter ends (Q1 Jan–Mar → April 30) |
| Annual (corporations and others) | 3 months after fiscal year-end (Dec 31 year-end → March 31) |
| Annual (individuals with a Dec 31 year-end) | April 30 (file by June 15) |
Individual filers get extra time to file, not extra time to pay: interest starts on any unpaid balance May 1 even though the return is not due until June 15. When a due date lands on a weekend or public holiday, the CRA treats payment as on time if it arrives the next business day.
Annual filers with net tax of $3,000 or more owe quarterly instalments instead of one year-end payment — due one month after each fiscal quarter ends, paid by PAD or with an RC160 interim-payments voucher.
Since January 1, 2024, any payment or remittance of $10,000 or more to the Receiver General must be made electronically — otherwise it is a $100 penalty for each failure. The reasonable-cause exceptions are narrow (the CRA's own example: power outages or unreliable internet in rural areas). What satisfies the rule: CRA My Payment, online banking, PAD, a third-party provider, and in-person payment at a bank with a remittance voucher. A mailed cheque does not.
Two groups face stricter rules: businesses registered under the simplified GST/HST regime must pay electronically regardless of amount (non-residents without a Canadian bank account pay by wire transfer, and qualifying non-residents can request to report and pay in U.S. dollars or euros). And if your GST/HST account is administered by Revenu Québec, you pay through Revenu Québec, not the CRA — the CRA's payment systems do not cover Quebec-administered accounts.
File on time anyway. That is the move that matters most: an on-time return with an unpaid balance carries no late-filing penalty, only interest on the balance until you settle up. Pay what you can immediately — every dollar paid early is a dollar that stops accruing interest — and keep paying the balance down. If the arrears will take months, the CRA's payment-arrangement process exists for exactly this. What never helps: ignoring the return because the money is not there. That converts an interest-only problem into a penalty problem.
| CRA My Payment — Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard | Processed next business day; no CRA fee |
|---|---|
| Online banking bill payment (GST/HST payee) | Allow 2-3 business days; free |
| Pre-authorized debit (CRA account or NETFILE) | Pulls on your chosen date; set up 5+ business days ahead; free |
| Credit card, Interac e-transfer or PayPal via third-party provider | Allow 2-3 business days; processing fee |
| In person at a financial institution ([RC158](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-payments/payment-vouchers.html)/[RC159](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-payments/payment-vouchers.html) voucher) | Same-day processing; free; counts as electronic |
| Cheque by mail to the CRA | Slowest; received-date rule applies; not for $10,000+ |
My Payment takes activated debit cards with the Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard logo — credit cards do not work there. Interac Debit was removed from My Payment in September 2024.
Not directly to the CRA — the CRA does not accept credit cards. CRA My Payment works only with Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard (the words 'Debit' are what matter, not the Visa or Mastercard logo). If you want to pay with a credit card, a third-party service provider will process it for you and charge a processing fee.
Filing without paying is legal, and it is the right move when cash is tight: an on-time return avoids the late-filing penalty entirely. Interest accrues on the unpaid balance until you settle up, so pay what you can as soon as you can. Paying without filing is the bad combination — the return is still overdue.
If you also missed the filing deadline, the late-filing penalty applies to the balance: 1% of the amount owing plus 0.25% for each full month late, up to 12 months. On a return that was filed on time, only interest applies to the unpaid balance. Either way, a deadline that lands on a weekend or public holiday rolls to the next business day.
Annual filers whose net tax is $3,000 or more must make quarterly instalment payments, due one month after each fiscal quarter ends. Pay them by pre-authorized debit or with an [RC160](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/businesses/topics/corporations/corporation-payments/payment-vouchers.html) interim-payments remittance voucher. Quarterly and monthly filers do not make instalments — their frequency is already the instalment plan.
No. Payments and remittances of $10,000 or more to the Receiver General must be made electronically, with a $100 penalty for each failure (this has been the rule since January 1, 2024, with narrow reasonable-cause exceptions). Paying in person at a bank with a remittance voucher counts as an electronic payment, so it satisfies the rule. Businesses under the simplified GST/HST regime must pay electronically regardless of the amount.
If your GST/HST account is administered by Revenu Québec, you pay Revenu Québec — not the CRA. Quebec-administered accounts are excluded from the CRA's payment systems just as they are from GST/HST NETFILE. Your Revenu Québec account shows the payment options for both the GST/HST and the QST you collect.
File your return on time anyway — that is the single most important move, because it skips the late-filing penalty. Then pay what you can immediately and keep paying down the balance; only interest accrues in the meantime. If the balance will take a while, the CRA's payment-arrangement process exists for exactly this situation.
Online payments are processed at the CRA on the next business day. The CRA treats a payment as received when your financial institution processes it, not when you initiate it — so a PAD agreement or online-banking payment started on the due date may land late. PAD needs 5 or more business days of lead time, and bank or third-party payments need two to three business days. Initiate a few business days before the deadline.
Related guides: how to file a GST/HST return in Canada, how to register for a GST/HST number, what happens if you file your GST/HST return late, how to look up a GST/HST number, how to charge GST/HST.