Canada's free tax clinics go virtual

Many free tax clinics had closed down owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The introduction of these free virtual tax clinics, equipped with community volunteers to file taxes for eligible people, has the new flexibility to receive and authenticate documents.

This service will be offered to the public by local organizations, in partnership with the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) and the joint CRA and Revenu Québec Income Tax Assistance  Volunteer Program.

Owing to COVID-19 pandemic faced by Canadians in filing taxes, the government of Canada had extended the tax filing season from April 30 to June 1, 2020.

CRA is working with partner organizations to make sure these virtual clinics are safe and secure and that private information of the Canadians is protected.

Volunteer tax programs help people with low and modest incomes and a simple tax situation. Trained volunteers prepare income tax and benefit returns free of charge.

During the 2018-2019 year CVITP program alone with more than 19,000 volunteers and 3,500 community organizations filed over 835,200 tax returns for individuals across Canada, and helped over 741,400 individuals.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Image:  Diane Lebouthillier: Twitter handle