If the CRA sends you a letter, do three things the day it arrives: read it to identify what type of letter it is, confirm it is genuine, and write down the response deadline. Most review letters give you about 30 days to reply, and you have 90 days to formally object if the CRA changed your assessment. The vast majority of CRA letters are routine document requests, not audits, and a complete, on-time response usually closes the file. Ignoring the letter is the only truly bad option.
What Kind of Letter Did the CRA Send You?
The right response depends entirely on which of the five common letter types you are holding. Check the first paragraph and the letterhead program name, then match it below.
| Letter type | What it means | Typical response window |
|---|---|---|
| Review letter (Pre-assessment Review, Processing Review, or Matching Program) | The CRA wants receipts or documents to support a claim on your return. A review is not an audit. | Usually 30 days; the exact date is printed on the letter |
| Notice of assessment or reassessment with changes | The CRA changed your return. Your refund shrank, or you owe more. | 90 days to file an objection (individuals often get longer; see below) |
| Demand to file | You have an unfiled return and are now legally required to file it under subsection 150(2) of the Income Tax Act. | The deadline stated in the letter |
| Audit notice | A full examination of your books and records for the years listed. | Contact the auditor by the date given before anything else |
| Collections letter or legal warning | You have an unpaid balance and the CRA may take legal action to collect it. | Immediately; a legal warning stays valid for 180 days |
Review letters are by far the most common. The Pre-assessment Review happens before your notice of assessment is issued, the Processing Review happens after, and the Matching Program compares your return against third-party slips from employers, banks, and payment platforms. That last one is why unreported platform income gets caught so reliably; if you earn money on the side, read our guide on reporting side hustle income to the CRA, and if you sell online, our e-commerce accounting service keeps those numbers matched before the CRA has to ask.
How Do You Know a CRA Letter Is Real and Not a Scam?
Fraudsters copy CRA letterhead well, so verify before you act, and especially before you pay anything or share personal information.
What the CRA will never do
- Demand payment by e-transfer, cryptocurrency, prepaid credit cards, or gift cards. The CRA accepts payment through your bank, its own online services, and cheque.
- Threaten you with arrest, deportation, or the police.
- Email or text you a link to claim a refund.
- Pressure you to act within hours. Real CRA deadlines are measured in days and weeks and are printed on the letter.
How to verify a letter in five minutes
- Sign in to CRA My Account (or My Business Account). Genuine CRA letters appear in your online mail. If the letter is not there, be suspicious.
- Call the CRA directly using the public numbers, not the number printed on a suspicious letter: 1-800-959-8281 for individuals or 1-800-959-5525 for businesses. Ask the agent to confirm the letter and its reference number.
- If it is a fake, report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
The CRA publishes an official guide on how to verify that a contact is really the CRA. Bookmark it.
Which Deadlines Actually Matter?
Every CRA letter carries a clock. These are the ones that cost real money when missed:
- Review letters: usually 30 days from the date on the letter. If you cannot gather documents in time, call the number on the letter before the deadline; the CRA routinely grants extensions when you ask early.
- Objections: individuals can file a notice of objection up to the later of one year after the return's filing deadline or 90 days after the date on the notice of assessment or reassessment. Miss that and you can still apply for an extension for up to one year after the objection deadline, but approval is not automatic.
- Demand to file: the deadline in the letter is a legal requirement, not a suggestion. Filing after a demand can also trigger a much larger penalty if you have a recent history of late filing.
- Legal warning: the CRA can start legal action any time within 180 days of issuing it, generally once your debt has been unpaid for 90 days after the notice of assessment and no objection has been filed.
How Should You Respond to a CRA Letter?
- Identify exactly what is being asked. A Processing Review letter asking for your donation receipts needs donation receipts, not your whole shoebox. Answer the specific question.
- Pull your records. You are required to keep records for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to, so the receipts should exist. If your books are a mess, this is the moment you feel it; our post on record-keeping rules for Canadian small business owners covers what the CRA expects.
- Submit online, quoting the reference number. Use the "Submit documents" service in CRA My Account and enter the case or reference number printed on your letter so your documents land in the right file. Mail works too, but it is slower and harder to prove.
- Keep copies of everything, including the letter, your response, and the date you sent it.
- Call before the deadline if you need more time. A documented extension request protects you; silence does not.
If the letter says you owe money you genuinely owe, pay it or call CRA collections to arrange a payment plan. Interest compounds daily either way, but a payment arrangement keeps garnishment off the table.
How Does an Accountant Take Over CRA Correspondence for You?
You do not have to handle any of this yourself. Canada has a formal representative authorization system: your accountant submits an authorization request through the CRA's Represent a Client portal using their RepID, and you approve it with a couple of clicks under "Authorized representative(s)" in My Account. There is also a paper option, Form AUT-01, for offline access. Once authorized, your accountant can see the same letters you see in your CRA mail, speak to the CRA on your behalf, submit documents, file objections, and negotiate deadlines.
In practice this changes everything about a CRA letter. At SNF Accounting, clients forward us the letter (or we spot it in their CRA mail first), we identify the letter type, assemble the documentation from books we already keep, and respond inside the deadline. Clean monthly bookkeeping is what makes that turnaround possible; most painful CRA reviews trace back to the errors covered in these common bookkeeping mistakes.
What Happens If You Ignore a CRA Letter?
CRA letters do not expire quietly. The consequences escalate in a predictable order:
- Ignored review letter: the CRA denies the claim it asked about and reassesses you. A denied $8,000 expense claim at a 30 per cent marginal rate is roughly $2,400 in extra tax, plus arrears interest.
- Ignored demand to file: the CRA can issue an arbitrary assessment under subsection 152(7), estimating your income without the deductions you were entitled to. The late-filing penalty is 5 per cent of the balance owing plus 1 per cent for each full month late, to a maximum of 12 months. On a $10,000 balance filed two months late, that is $700 before interest. If the CRA issued a demand and you were also penalized for late filing in any of the three previous years, the penalty jumps to 10 per cent plus 2 per cent per month for up to 20 months, a maximum of 50 per cent of the unpaid tax.
- Ignored collections letter: the CRA does not need a court order to collect. It can send a requirement to pay to your employer or bank and garnish your wages or account directly.
Every one of those outcomes is cheaper to prevent than to unwind. Responding on time, with the right documents, is almost always the least expensive path.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to respond to a CRA review letter?
Most CRA review letters give you about 30 days from the date printed on the letter, and the specific deadline is stated in the letter itself. The CRA is genuinely flexible here: if you cannot get the documents in time, call the number on the letter before the deadline and ask for an extension. What you cannot do is stay silent. If the CRA hears nothing, it simply denies the claim under review and reassesses your return, and then you are into objection territory, which is slower and harder.
Does a CRA review letter mean I am being audited?
No. A review is a routine document check, and the CRA runs millions of them through its Pre-assessment Review, Processing Review, and Matching programs. The agency is verifying one or two specific claims, such as medical expenses, donations, or employment expenses, against your receipts. An audit is a different, formal process involving a broader examination of your books and records, and the letter will say so explicitly. Handle a review well, with complete documents sent on time, and it typically ends with a one-page letter confirming no changes.
Can the CRA really take money from my bank account without a court order?
Yes. Unlike ordinary creditors, the CRA can issue a requirement to pay directly to your bank or employer, which legally obligates them to redirect your money to the CRA. Before it gets there, the CRA sends a legal warning, which remains valid for 180 days, and generally waits until your debt has been unpaid for 90 days after the notice of assessment with no objection filed. If you receive a legal warning, call collections or have your accountant negotiate a payment arrangement immediately.
How do I dispute a CRA reassessment I think is wrong?
File a notice of objection. As an individual, your deadline is the later of one year after your return's filing deadline or 90 days after the date on the notice of reassessment. You can file online through My Account or have your authorized representative file for you, setting out the facts and attaching supporting documents. If you missed the window, you can apply for an extension for up to one year after the objection deadline, but you must explain why you could not file on time. Do not simply re-argue by phone; only an objection protects your legal rights.
Can my accountant deal with the CRA on my behalf?
Yes, once you authorize them. Your accountant submits a request through the CRA's Represent a Client portal, and you confirm it in My Account under "Authorized representative(s)"; Form AUT-01 covers offline-only access. After that, they can view your CRA correspondence, call the CRA for you, submit review documents, file objections, and arrange payment plans. This is standard practice, and it means a CRA letter becomes a forwarding job rather than a stress event. SNF Accounting handles CRA correspondence for clients across Canada as part of our fixed monthly plans.
Got a CRA letter sitting on your desk right now? Book a free 30-minute consultation and we will tell you exactly what it is, what the deadline means, and how we would respond, with CPA-led support on fixed pricing from $199 per month.