CRA provides new tax-filing options, holds Twitter chat

Ottawa – The Canada Revenue Agency is reminding Canadians of its new features, including a MyCRA mobile app.

In a news release, the CRA detailed several options designed to make tax time easier:

Auto-fill my return: A secure CRA service that allows individuals and authorized representatives to automatically fill in parts of a current-year income tax and benefit return. Individuals must be fully registered for My Account to use this new service. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/auto-fill.

MyCRA mobile app: A mobile app for individual taxpayers. It lets you securely access and view key portions of your tax information, such as your notice of assessment, return status, and RRSP and TFSA contribution limits. MyCRA now also lets you manage your online mail, contact information, direct deposit information, and request a proof of income (option c) printout. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/mobileapps.

Improved correspondence: In February 2016, the CRA began sending Canadians a new, simple, easier to read notice of assessment after they filed their income tax and benefit return. This will be followed in July 2016 by simplified benefit notices, including those related to family benefits and the GST/HST credit. The improvements are based on a review by the CRA of international best practices, feedback from Canadians, and its own external correspondence. The review focused on how the notices are designed, formatted, and written. For more information, go to www.cra.gc.ca/noticesandletters.

Frank Vermaeten, Assistant Commissioner of Assessment, Benefit and Service Branch (ABSB) of the CRA, will lead a lunch-and-learn tweet chat on Twitter on Thursday, April 7, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. (Eastern Time). During this session, Vermaeten will discuss these innovations. Follow @CanRevAgency and @FVermaeten, and use #CRAInnovation to join the discussion.

The CRA provides several ways to receive updates when new information is added to its website:

• Follow the CRA on Twitter: @CanRevAgency.
• Subscribe to a CRA electronic mailing list.
• Add the agency’s RSS feeds to your feed reader.
• The CRA also has posted several tax-related videos on YouTube.