Posthaste: More Canadians desperate for tax refund to plug holes in their finances
Accountants will tell you that getting a tax refund is bad financial planning, but more Canadians are nonetheless depending on that cash injection to help with their finances, according to two new surveys.
“More than a third (36 per cent) say they are relying on their tax refund more this year than last year, reflecting the impact of the current economic climate on household finances,” EQ Bank said in a release about its survey on Thursday.
As the April 30 deadline for Canadians to file their tax returns comes closer into view, some groups depend on the refund more than others.
A bit more than 40 per cent of people aged 18-34 are counting on a tax refund as a financial buffer — the highest share among all the age groups — while 41 per cent of women said “they are relying on their refund for expenses,” compared with 32 per cent of men, EQ Bank.
Despite much lower interest rates than a few years ago and slowing overall inflation, Canadians continue to struggle with their finances.
Homeowners set to renew their mortgages this year, likely at higher interest rates , were preparing to tighten up their budgets to manage those larger payments, a survey by Toronto-Dominion Bank said.
And two-thirds of NerdWallet Canada survey respondents said they used a credit card to pay for basics such as groceries or utilities in the past year, up from 74 per cent last year and 69 per cent in 2024.
Similar to the EQ Bank findings, 40 per cent of people are relying on their tax refund to help cover the cost of living, a TurboTax Canada survey of 1,500 Canadian adults said.
Some of its survey’s results paint an even more dire picture of how dependent people are on their tax refunds.
For example, nearly seven in 10 said they would be “financially impacted” if they didn’t receive the refund they were expecting and 26 per cent said they would be “severely impacted.” Gen-Zers and millennials said the financial fallout from not getting the expected refund in the mail would be significant.
Taxpayers take their refunds so seriously that 60 per cent worried about missing out on deductions or credits that would help them net a bigger refund.
So far the average refund received is $2,000, according to the Canada Revenue Agency .
Plans for that money varied, with people looking to use it to pay down debt , contribute to either a tax-free savings account or registered retirement savings plan , hold the refund in cash or use it for everyday costs, EQ Bank said.
EQ Bank also asked people about the expanded GST/HST credit program , now called the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, that will give lower-income Canadians a 25 per cent boost to their GST rebates over the next five years, as well as a one-time top-up of 50 per cent in 2026.
Nearly half said they believe they will be eligible for the credit and planned to use the money for everyday expenses, savings, paying down debt or adding to an emergency fund.
“Overall, the findings suggest Canadians are approaching tax season cautiously, prioritizing stability and financial resilience over discretionary spending,” EQ Bank said.
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The United States Federal Reserve got some bad news on Thursday. New data showed that household income is falling but inflation is ticking up, making the job of setting interest rates harder as the central bank tries to deal with a slowing economy amid rising prices.
“The figures pointed to a significant slowdown in household spending in the first quarter,” Jocelyn Paquet, a senior economist at National Bank of Canada Capital Markets, said in note, citing bad weather, a decline in population growth and a cooling labour market as factors.
The personal consumption expenditure (PCE) index rose 4.4 per cent on an annualized basis — “something that has not been seen since 1991,” except during the pandemic, Paquet said.
Tariffs as well as supply chain trouble with microprocessors were mostly to blame for the PCE heating up, the economist said, adding that the Fed had previously depended on deflation in the PCE to help achieve its two per cent inflation target.
Headline U.S. inflation currently stands at 2.4 per cent year over year. New consumer price index numbers were slated for release on Friday with the estimates calling for inflation to accelerate 3.4 per cent in March.
“Truly, the (PCE) numbers released this morning show that the central bank was already facing a difficult situation, marked by slowing growth and rising inflation, even before the conflict in the Middle East began … and things may not have improved much since then,” Paquet said.
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Today’s Posthaste was written by Gigi Suhanic with additional reporting from Financial Post staff and Bloomberg.
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