Under the GST, only the largest 1 per cent of businesses must be monthly filers. Small businesses have, of course, much more flexible filing requirements.
The filing periods for the GST are quite comparable to those in other countries.
Providing large businesses with an extra 30 days to remit their GST would entail a one-time cash flow cost to the federal government of more than $1 billion. This translates into an ongoing interest cost of about $60 million per year.