Important CRA Updates & Reminders

CRA Online Mail

Failure to actively monitor and review CRA online mail may result in significant penalties, interest and/or loss of ability to dispute CRA assessments.

Individuals:

As of July 3, 2025, approximately 500,000 benefit recipients, such as those receiving the Canada Child Benefit, Old Age Security, or the Disability Tax Credit began receiving CRA correspondence online through their Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) My Account. On September 4, 2025, an additional 900,000 individuals were transitioned. If you were affected, the CRA indicated that you should have received an email and in some cases a letter in late August outlining these changes and what to expect. Unlike the changes made to Business mail, the CRA did not provide any advance notice of their plan to transition individuals to online mail until after letters were sent.

The dates for subsequent phases have not yet been announced.

Important Steps for Taxpayers:

• Check your CRA My Account regularly even if you aren’t affected to ensure you have access to notifications (paper or online) and that you haven’t missed any important correspondence such as instalment reminders, notices of assessments or reassessments, or CRA review letters with a limited time to reply to the CRA.
• You can change your notification preferences including opting out of online mail at any time. Should you wish to continue receiving online correspondence, ensure that your email address on file with the CRA is correct under your profile in your My Account.

Businesses:

As a reminder, on May 12, 2025, the CRA transitioned to online mail as the default method for delivering most business correspondence.

This means that if you operate a business, your tax notices and other communications including letters, forms, and statements will be sent through My Business Account. Once posted, the correspondence is legally considered delivered on that date, so it is important to log in and check your CRA correspondence regularly as well as to ensure that you have set up your notification preferences.

You do have the option to opt out of online correspondence. To do so, you must either:

• Submit Form RC681 – Request to Activate Paper Mail for My Business, or
• Adjust your notification settings directly in My Business Account.

Please note that any requests to receive paper mail must be renewed every two years.

Also, be aware that accounting firms and other representatives do not have access to any CRA notification preferences for both individuals and businesses. We cannot make changes or receive CRA notifications on your behalf.

How does the Canada Post Strike affect correspondence from CRA

Due to the recent Canada Post strike the CRA strongly encourages all Canadians and tax-filers sign up for a CRA account and direct deposit.

To avoid disruptions receiving important CRA documents and benefit payments please sign up for direct deposit and set your correspondence preferences in your CRA account to “electronic mail.”

To avoid potential interest and penalties on amounts owing, we also encourage you to send any payment(s) to the CRA electronically.

The CRA typically does not resend notices delayed or lost in the mail. Ensuring uninterrupted access to digital services is therefore essential.

Ontario Annual Return Filings

Please be advised that some business owners may experience a temporary loss of access to their CRA My Business Account following the filing of the Ontario Corporate Annual Return.

This issue occurs during the transfer of information between the Ontario Business Registry (OBR) and the CRA. Both the CRA and OBR are aware of the problem and are actively working toward a resolution.

Should you find that your access has been revoked, please contact our office. A member of our administrative team will be happy to assist you.