One of the best pieces of advice from the Canada Revenue Agency this tax season is that you can avoid frustrations by knowing where to go to get answers you need.
With the unprecedented addition of new Federal programs to the tax mix in 2020, you can appreciate wait times for your call to be answered may be extensive.
To give taxpayers more time to have their tax and benefit questions answered, our individual tax enquiries line will be open on Good Friday and Easter Monday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., local time, but will be closed on Saturday and Sunday.
The CRA is providing new avenues to access answers.
Check Canada.ca: for information on what a taxpayer should do if they received T4A and/or T4E slips for COVID-19 emergency benefits. Most benefit payments are done by direct deposit to your bank account- but if your cheque comes in the mail, allow 5 to 10 ten for it to arrive before you call the CRA looking for it.
Never mind Alexa, your go-to at the Canada Revenue Agency is Charlie the chatbot: Charlie can be found on the CRA homepage and many other of the web pages on Canada.ca.
Taxpayers can access the CRA’s suite of secure digital services to track their refund, view RRSP limits, and receive email notifications- just sign up for the My Account service.
The web address “Canada.ca” has a CRA processing times tool that will tell you when you can expect your return to be completed.
Information on telephone wait times will now provide real time answers on how long you can expect to be on hold.
While there are now more available call centre agents, you may have specific questions about emergency recovery benefits, and there is a new additional telephone line to handle frequently asked questions in this regard, at 1-833-966-2099.
Rather than strain your neck waiting on hold, us the new automated callback service, and you call will be returned in the sequence it was received.
Hours for the CAR call centres have been extended, and you can access an agent Monday to Friday from 9 to 9, and on Saturday from 9AM to 5PM.
There are improvements to the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) including virtual clinicss and videoconference. Go to canada.ca/taxes-help for information.
You can follow the CRA on Facebook; on Twitter @CanRevAgency or watch our tax-related videos on YouTube.