The results of a new survey from Payment Source, a digital tax payment service provider, indicates that newfound comfort with digital transactions may cause more Canadians to make digital tax payments — easing the burden amid a complicated tax year.
While the majority of taxes are filed electronically in Canada, a recent survey by Payment Source found that less than 40 percent of Canadians have paid their taxes online or through an app in the past. This year’s data indicates that 70 percent are interested in paying their 2020 taxes electronically.
Pandemic support benefits, new work-from-home deductions and a surge in gig workers are just a few of the reasons the 2020 tax season is a little more complicated. Plus, the concerns of leaving home in the middle of lockdowns to meet the April 30 filing and payment deadline. Trends from Payments Canada indicate 44 percent of Canadians have shifted their preferences to digital and contactless due to COVID-19. Nearly 50 percent of Canadian consumers have reported using e-commerce platforms more often than pre-pandemic.
“We are seeing this trend towards digital play out on our PaySimply platform where we are experiencing enormous growth of online and in-app tax payments,” Albert Lang, Vice President, Cards and Payments at Payment Source, said in a press release.
“The Canada Revenue Agency has already encouraged people to file their taxes digitally this year to avoid processing delays. As for the associated payments, digital transactions are obviously faster, but they are also safer in this environment. People are clearly trying to offset some of the delays and challenges associated with this complicated tax year by moving to digital,” he added.
The 2020 tax season has forced accountant to cope with a backlog of new developments that impact calculations, and a surge in gig work has left some Canadians unsure of their tax filing obligations. That’s on top of the millions of consumers who received emergency benefits on which they now owe taxes and those who had to work remotely can now claim new work-from-home deductions.
Payment Source’s PaySimply payment volume has tripled since 2018. The PaySimply service enables users to pay several different types of taxes, from corporate income tax and payroll deductions, to CERB repayments, individual T1 taxes, benefit repayments and many others online or through our new mobile app and receive instant confirmation.
Read more about the survey here.
