Country Correspondent: Mark Conrod 

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recognizes that this year’s tax-filing season presents unique challenges, and has introduced a number of new measures to help taxpayers get the tax and benefit information they need, as well as to provide targeted interest relief to help mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19.

On February 1st, 2021, the CRA announced that to help manage the significant increase in call volumes, additional agents had been hired and a third-party service provider has been contracted on a temporary basis to assist with client service capacity to answer general enquiries. 

The CRA has also implemented a new automated telephone callback service. This new service lets callers ask for a callback instead of waiting on hold, when wait times reach a certain length. The CRA has also extended its call center hours leading up to and throughout tax-filing season. 

The CRA announced a $10 million investment over three years in a new grant program to help  free tax clinics offset some of their costs. These organizations help Canadians get the benefits and credits they are entitled to when they file their tax returns. The CRA expects that the grant program will make the work of these free tax clinics easier and will encourage more organizations to sign up. This, in turn, will allow the free tax clinics to help more taxpayers to file their tax returns.

Additionally, the Government of Canada will provide targeted interest relief to Canadians who received COVID-related income support benefits. Individuals with total taxable income in 2020 of $75,000 or less, will not be required to pay interest on any outstanding income tax debt for the 2020 tax year until April 30, 2022. The interest relief measure will automatically be applied by the CRA for individuals who meet these criteria.

Finally, CRA-administered credits and benefits that are normally paid monthly or quarterly, such as the Canada Child Benefit and the goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax credit, will not be applied against an individuals’ tax debt owing for the 2020 tax year. 

More information about these measures is available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency.html