The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) Annual Processing Review Program is in full swing and SheDo Tax wants to ensure you are prepared and ready if you happen to get selected.
CRA has started their annual post-assessment review of T1 individual income tax and benefit returns and began sending letters out on May 26th 2022. Here are a few tips to ensure that your review is completed efficiently and in a timely manner…
1) Our very first tip is simple: Don’t panic! Many taxpayers get reviewed on an annual basis. It is a completely normal process and many get selected for all sorts of reasons. If you are uncertain of how to respond, you can always reach out to us for assistance or questions.
2) Most letters give you a 30 day deadline to respond. All of us have many different events happening in our lives, especially as summer approaches. If you are unable to make the deadline, ensure you call to notify CRA. They may not grant an extension; however, they can place a note on file to indicate the delay, in which the agent/auditor that is handling your file should take into consideration.
3) When responding to the CRA letter, ensure everything is organized in a format that would make sense and clear to understand for the agent/auditor. If the agent/auditor can not make heads or tails of the information you submit, they may disallow some or all of your response given.
4) If you are unsure of all what to provide in your response – always give as much documentation/information as possible. IF you are unsure of what to provide as documentation – send anything and everything that relates to your claim to fully support the amount claimed. The more documentation and support – the better.
5) This particular year – you may receive letters from National Verification and Collections Centres other than those you have dealt with in the past. Always make sure to send the requested information to the tax centre indicated in your review letter to avoid any delay.
6) If you haven’t already signed up for CRA’s my account service, we highly recommend! Generally, your review letter should come with a reference number where you can easily submit your supporting documentation to them electronically. This would also speed up the process of the review as opposed to mailing in your support. You can register for a my account service at: www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/e-services-individuals/account-individuals
As always, the squad at SheDo Tax is always happy to assist from answering a question or two to helping you submit your documentation and support in response to a review letter that you may have received. It is not favourable of course in having to deal with the CRA, but we are happy to assist to make it as smooth of a process for you as possible.
We hope you all have a fantastic weekend and bring on summer!!