Frequently Asked Questions

For most individuals, the deadline to file is April 30. If you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed, you have until June 15 to file, but any balance owing is still due April 30. When a deadline falls on a weekend or public holiday, the CRA accepts returns and payments on the next business day.

If you owe tax, the late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% for each full month you're late, up to 12 months, and it climbs steeply for repeat late filers. Interest also compounds daily on any unpaid balance. If you're owed a refund there's no late-filing penalty, but benefit and credit payments that depend on your return can be interrupted until you file.

Usually it's worth filing anyway. Many benefits, including the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit), the Canada Child Benefit, and the Ontario Trillium Benefit, are calculated from your tax return, so not filing means not getting paid. Filing also builds your RRSP contribution room and carries forward credits like tuition for use in future years.

Returns filed electronically with direct deposit are typically refunded within about two weeks. Paper returns can take up to eight weeks. If the CRA selects your return for review, the refund is held until the review is resolved. You can track the status through CRA My Account.

My Account is the CRA's secure online portal for individuals. It shows your tax slips, notices of assessment, benefit payments, RRSP and TFSA room, and any balance owing, and it lets you set up direct deposit or change a filed return. We recommend every client register, and it's also the fastest way to verify that anything claiming to be from the CRA is genuine. Our guide to setting up your CRA account walks through what you'll need and why the identity-verification step decides your timeline.

Don't panic: most CRA letters are routine reviews asking you to send receipts or documents supporting a specific claim on your return. Note the response deadline, gather what's requested, and reply on time; ignoring a letter usually results in the claim being denied and your return reassessed. If you'd like help, get in touch, and with your authorization we can review the letter and respond on your behalf.

A review is a routine check of specific items on your return: the CRA asks for documents supporting a claim, you provide them, and the file closes. Reviews are common and are not an accusation of wrongdoing. An audit is a broader examination of your books and records, and is much rarer for individuals. In both cases, the outcome depends on having documentation to support what was claimed.

Wait until you receive your notice of assessment, then request an adjustment: electronically through a preparer's ReFILE service, through "Change my return" in CRA My Account, or by mailing a T1 adjustment request. You can generally request changes to returns for any of the ten previous calendar years.

Keep your records, including slips, receipts, and supporting documents, for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. The CRA can ask for them during that window, and claims without documentation are routinely denied on review.

The CRA will never demand payment by gift card, cryptocurrency, or e-transfer, never threatens immediate arrest, and doesn't send texts or emails with links to refunds. If a contact feels off, hang up, then check CRA My Account or call the CRA's published number directly. When in doubt, ask us before responding to anything.

File on time regardless: the late-filing penalty applies to filing, not paying, and it's the most avoidable cost. Then contact the CRA to arrange a payment plan; they routinely accept reasonable arrangements. Interest still accrues on the balance, and in cases of genuine hardship the CRA's taxpayer relief provisions may reduce penalties or interest.

Possibly, if your net tax owing at filing time is more than $3,000 in the current year and in either of the two previous years, the CRA expects quarterly instalments (due March, June, September, and December). The CRA mails instalment reminders in February and August. If you receive one, don't ignore it: missed instalments can attract interest.

Usually, yes. Swapping one coin for another, spending crypto, or gifting it: each is a taxable disposition the CRA expects on Schedule 3, valued in Canadian dollars at the time it happened. Only buying and holding isn't taxable. This is the single most common crypto surprise: a year of active trading with no cash-out can still mean a real tax bill.

Rarely. The CRA requires one pooled adjusted cost base per coin across every exchange and wallet you've ever used, and no single platform can calculate that, because no single platform can see the others. Transfer coins onto an exchange and its report has no idea what you paid; some guess, some write zero. Either way the gain is wrong, usually against you.

Rewards are generally income at fair market value on the day they arrive, and that value becomes your cost base for the eventual sale, so getting the first half right is what makes the second half cheap. Mining can be a hobby or a business depending on scale and intent, and the treatment differs; we make that determination based on your facts.

It depends on the facts: frequency of trades, holding periods, your knowledge of the markets, and time spent. The difference matters: only half of a capital gain is taxed, while business income is taxed in full. Frequent trading can push you from one to the other. We make the call deliberately, document why, and keep it consistent year over year.

Deal with it before the CRA does, because it has used court orders to get customer lists from exchanges, and coming forward first is materially better than being found. We rebuild the full history, bring prior years current, and where it fits, file through the Voluntary Disclosures Program, which can relieve penalties. You'll know exactly what you owe before anything is filed.

Generally yes when it's held on foreign exchanges. If the total cost of your specified foreign property crosses $100,000 CAD at any point in the year, Form T1135 is required, and late-filing penalties start at $25 a day. Where your crypto is actually situated isn't always obvious, especially for self-custody; we make the determination and file the form with your return.

Your previous year's notice of assessment, all slips (T4, T4A, T5, T3, T4E, T5008, and any others), RRSP contribution receipts, and receipts for anything you plan to claim: donations, medical expenses, childcare, tuition. If you're self-employed or have rental income, bring your income and expense records. When you get in touch, we confirm a checklist tailored to your situation so nothing is missed.

Your fee is quoted before any work begins, based on the complexity of your return, and it doesn't change unless the scope does. There's no hourly billing and no charge for asking questions. The fee calculator gives you an instant estimate before you ever contact us.

Slips and receipts go through our secure upload page, a private Microsoft 365 folder you can send to without signing in, so nothing travels as loose email attachments. It only accepts uploads: you can't browse it, and no other client can see what you've sent. Your EFILE authorization (form T183) is signed electronically through our professional tax filing system. Documents are stored encrypted, seen by exactly one person, the one preparing your return, and retained in line with CRA record-keeping requirements (six years), used only to prepare your return.

Only if you'd like to. We meet clients in person in London, Ontario, and work by video or phone with clients elsewhere in Ontario and across Canada. Most returns can be handled entirely remotely without any loss of care or accuracy.

Yes. With your signed authorization through the CRA's Represent a Client service, we can communicate with the CRA about your file, responding to reviews, requesting adjustments, and resolving questions, so you don't have to navigate it alone.

EFILE is the CRA's electronic filing system for professional preparers. Providers are screened and approved by the CRA before they can transmit returns. For you, it means your return is filed directly and securely with the CRA, processed faster than a paper return, and prepared by a practice the CRA has vetted for suitability.

Yes, the service appreciation rate: 15% off your return — the tier fee and every schedule on it — for active and retired military, nurses, police, firefighters, and paramedics. Hourly work, such as handling a CRA review, is billed at standard rates. It stacks with the spousal discount when you and your partner file together, and it's applied before any work begins, so the fee you agree to is the fee you pay. Bring valid service ID to intake. The service recognition page has the full story, and the fee calculator has a toggle that shows your estimate with the rate applied.

Yes. The rate covers serving and retired members alike, and your release date doesn't matter. Greywood was founded by a 16-year CAF veteran, and recognizing service doesn't stop when the uniform comes off. The same goes for retired nurses, police, firefighters, and paramedics.

We've lived most of them. Postings and eligible relocation expenses, income earned on designated international operations, and which veterans' benefits are taxable and which are not: these files are familiar here, not exotic. And since we work by video and secure upload across Canada, a posting outside Ontario doesn't change anything. See the service recognition page for the details.