Canadians have only until midnight to file their 2001 income tax returns.

The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency is reminding taxpayers that late-filing penalties and interest charges will apply to returns received or postmarked after this date if there are amounts owing for 2001.

Many CCRA offices will be open until midnight tonight to accept paper returns. Some postal outlets will also offer service up to midnight to enable individuals to file their returns by the deadline.

Canadians wishing to file returns electronically can file by midnight using the CCRA’s NETFILE (over the Internet), TELEFILE (by telephone) or EFILE (through an approved electronic service provider) service.

The CCRA has received 16 million returns so far this year. This includes 1.9 million returns filed over the Internet (NETFILE), 513,521 returns filed by telephone (TELEFILE), and 4.8 million filed through an approved electronic service provider (EFILE). To date, refunds have totalled $9.8 billion, with an average refund amount of $1,120.12.

To mark the filing deadline, several hundred Quebec citizens, members of the Mouvement Action Contribuables (“Taxpayer Action Movement”), are demonstrating today in front of the National Assembly in Quebec City.

They will peacefully serve tea, but to ensure that their anger is obvious to all, they will burn their provincial income tax forms.

The Quebec Tea Party is meant to recall the famous Boston Tea Party of 1773, the renowned event in which a contingent of American colonists, revolting against an abusive tax imposed on tea by England, boarded three ships in the port of Boston and dumped all of their tea cargo into the sea. This event marked the beginning of a significant revolt against fiscal injustice.

The demonstrators represent some 10,000 taxpayers who, invested in research and development projects in the early 1990s. Ten years later, Quebec governmenty refuses to grant the tax advantages that it had previously agreed to, but it is also issuing retroactive assessments to citizens MAC claims are already the most highly taxed in all of North America.

MAC President Hélène Labrèche says, “Enough is enough! It’s high time that Premier Landry had a good look at what’s happening! Before he decries Ottawa’s ‘fiscal inequity’, he should examine the abuse that is occurring in Quebec and for which he is responsible.