Quick answer: An instalment reminder shows amounts the CRA calculated from your PAST filings. It is a payment schedule proposal, not an assessment. If this year’s income will be lower, you may legitimately owe less or nothing per instalment; if you underpay against what the year truly turns out to owe, instalment interest attaches. The judgement is a projection question, which is exactly what our instalment calculator and instalments guide are for.
What the reminder is, mechanically
Instalments prepay a year’s tax during the year. The CRA’s reminder amounts are computed from prior-year figures because that is all it can see. It does not know your current year. That is why the reminder is neither ignorable nor automatically correct: it is one of the calculation options the rules allow, based on data that may no longer describe you.
The three legitimate responses
- Pay as billed — safe harbour: paying the reminder amounts on time protects you from instalment interest even if the year ends up owing more.
- Pay based on this year’s estimate — allowed, and cheaper when income has dropped; but if the estimate proves low, interest applies to the shortfall.
- Pay nothing — correct only when the year’s tax will fall under the instalment threshold. Guessing wrong here is the expensive version.
What people get wrong
Treating the reminder as junk mail, and treating it as an invoice, are both errors. It is a forecast you are invited to correct, and the correction should be a calculation, not a mood. Ten minutes with the calculator and last year’s numbers settles which of the three responses is yours.
A reminder is calculated from last year, not this one, which is why planning that sets the instalment against real figures usually changes the number you actually pay.
Fastest first step: email what you’re facing to info@everstonecpa.com — reply within one business day, and we book the consult from there.
General information, not tax advice. The document in your hand and its own dates govern.
Common questions about instalment reminder
Is an instalment reminder a bill I legally owe?+
My income dropped this year. Do I still pay these amounts?+
What happens if I just ignore it?+
Can EverStone work this out with me?+
Other CRA letters, decoded
Not sure which letter you have? Start with the full list and match what yours says.
One letter often follows another. These cover the ones owner-managers see most.
Who this is for, and who it is not
This is for an owner who received a reminder and wants to know whether to pay it. It is not for a corporation that has already missed instalments and accrued interest — that is a different conversation, and a faster one than most expect.
What happens when you get in touch
A reminder is not a bill, but it is a good moment to hand the calendar to someone else. This is how that starts.
- A free thirty-minute conversation. What you do, what is filed and what is overdue. You leave with a fixed fee in writing and no obligation to take it.
- Access, in the first week. We are authorized with the CRA, so notices and balances get looked up rather than requested from you. If you are switching firms, your file is requested the same week.
- Current, then ahead. Books set up or brought current, anything overdue scheduled oldest year first, and the next twelve months of deadlines set before they arrive.
Book the free consultation, or ask one question first — both go to a CPA, not a queue.
Email the reminder before the first due date
A CPA reads it against your actual year and answers with a number, not a guess.
Email us — info@everstonecpa.comOr book directly“Highly recommend working with Sunny. We switched to him last year for both our personal and small-business taxes — responsive, knowledgeable and quick.”