The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recently announced it will change how it communicates with business entities.
Effective in spring, most businesses will no longer receive paper mail from the CRA. It has decided to send correspondence for business accounts (including GST/HST, payroll, and corporate tax accounts) electronically through its online portals, My Business Account and Represent a Client.
Your business will start to receive electronic correspondence from the CRA if your business has:
With few exceptions, most businesses will automatically shift to electronic correspondence. Prompt review of these communications is crucial, as the delivery date is considered the date posted on My Business Account. Delays could result in interest and penalties due to missed objection windows for incorrect assessments or reassessments. If that is the case, it may be very difficult or impossible to have the assessment or reassessment corrected.
If you have notifications enabled in your My Business Account and have entered a current email address, you should receive an email notification of correspondence related to your account prompting you to log in to your My Business Account. However, as these emails may be infrequent, be sure to check regularly that a spam filter has not diverted CRA emails to a junk or spam folder.
Review the CRA's preparation steps. For those who prefer to receive paper mail, an election form is expected to be available in May.
Your BDO advisor can assist you in understanding what these changes means to you.
The information in this publication is current as of January 31, 2025.
This publication has been carefully prepared, but it has been written in general terms and should be seen as broad guidance only. The publication cannot be relied upon to cover specific situations and you should not act, or refrain from acting, upon the information contained therein without obtaining specific professional advice. Please contact BDO Canada LLP to discuss these matters in the context of your particular circumstances. BDO Canada LLP, its partners, employees and agents do not accept or assume any liability or duty of care for any loss arising from any action taken or not taken by anyone in reliance on the information in this publication or for any decision based on it.