The federal government is moving to automatically distribute benefits to Canadians on low incomes by pre-filling their tax returns.
In a Friday announcement, Ottawa said Budget 2025 will instruct the Canada Revenue Agency to start “preparing a pre-filled tax return” for about a million Canadians in its online filing system ahead of 2026 tax season.
The CRA expects to expand the program to cover about 5.5 million people by 2029.
The prime minister’s office said the CRA “will automatically file these individuals’ taxes to ensure they receive government benefits they qualify for, such as the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit, the Canada Disability Benefit, and more – including benefits that these Canadians may not be aware they are entitled to.”
Who exactly will be covered in year one was not made clear on Friday.
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The measure was announced in a preview of initiatives set to be rolled out in next month’s federal budget.
The budget must pass for changes included within it to take effect. However, the federal government has more broadly committed to the same auto-filing system – without such a precise timeline – in previous budgets.
