My Account - Managing Your Taxes On-line

In recent years, the Canada Revenue Agency has taken a number of initiatives to make it easier for taxpayers to deal with them in an electronic environment. One of those initiatives is the "My Account" feature on the CRA website at www.cra.gc.ca, which the CRA has recently enhanced.

The My Account feature allows taxpayers to access their personal tax information on file with the CRA, including information about any tax refunds or balances owing, the status of instalments and returns, as well as information on any Child Tax Benefit payments and Goods and Services Tax credit amounts. To access the My Account feature, taxpayers must first obtain a Government of Canada e-pass. To obtain that e-pass, a taxpayer must, on the website, provide the CRA with his or her social insurance number, date of birth and current postal code. As well, the amount reported on line 150 (total income) of the taxpayer's 2003 or 2004 return must be provided. Once that information is entered, the taxpayer must create an e-pass user ID and password, and select and answer three questions. In about five business days, the taxpayer will receive a CRA activation code by mail. After the activation code is entered on the website, the My Account feature is activated, and the taxpayer can log into My Account using his or her user ID and password.

Using the "My Account" feature, taxpayers can now find information about any of the following:

• any tax refund or balance owing;
• information about their RRSP, Home Buyers' Plan, and Lifelong Learning Plan;
• the status of their income tax and benefit returns for the current and previous years;
• any account balance and payments made on filing;
• tax instalments made and tax instalments required;
• Canada Child Tax Benefit and related provincial and territorial programs payments, account balance, and statement of account;
• GST/HST credit and related provincial programs payments, account balance, and statement of account, and
• addresses and telephone numbers.

As well, using My Account, taxpayers can:

• change their tax returns;
• change their addresses or telephone numbers; and
• disagree with their assessment or determination.

The CRA continues to add new functionalities to the My Account feature, and announcements of such enhancements can usually be found on the CRA's website at www.cra.gc.ca.