Pocket-Friendly Penalty and Interest Waiver Request for Canadian Businesses and Individuals

Medical costs give a non-refundable credit rather than a deduction. Eligible items include prescription drugs, dental work, eyeglasses and contact lenses, fees paid to medical practitioners authorised to practise, private health plan premiums, attendant care and travel for treatment unavailable locally. Over-the-counter products and most cosmetic procedures do not qualify. Only the portion above an income-based threshold counts, the claim period may end at any point in the tax year rather than following the calendar year, and pooling the family claim on one spouse usually helps.

A smaller refund usually means less tax was over-withheld during the year, rather than that something went wrong. Common causes are a second job or a new employer withholding as though it were your only income, self-employment or investment income with no withholding at all, a benefit or credit reduced as income rose, fewer deductions claimed than last year, or a refund applied against another balance you owe. Compare the two notices of assessment line by line.

Yes. Cash tips are taxable even though nothing is withheld and no slip is issued for them. Report them on your T1 as other employment income for the year received. Keep a daily log of the amounts, because during a review the CRA can estimate unreported tips from point-of-sale records and industry averages, then assess tax plus interest on the result. Controlled tips your employer collects and hands out are taxed through payroll instead.

Call the CRA's individual or business enquiries line, both listed on the Contact the CRA page at canada.ca. Have your social insurance number or business number, your date of birth, and a line amount from a recent return ready, because the agent verifies you before discussing anything. Lines are quietest early in the morning and outside filing season. You can also authorise someone to call on your behalf using form AUT-01.

Pay it the same way you pay any CRA balance: through your financial institution's online banking using the CRA as a payee, through My Account or My Business Account, by pre-authorised debit, by debit or credit through a third-party provider, or at a bank counter with a remittance voucher. Choose the correct account and tax year so it is applied properly. If the penalty came from circumstances beyond your control, form RC4288 asks the CRA to cancel or waive it.

For your own tax information, ask for a personal information request through the federal ATIP online portal, or submit the government's request form to the CRA's access to information office. Name the years and the type of record - notices of assessment, audit working papers, collections notes - because a narrow request is answered faster. Check CRA My Account first: slips, notices and account balances are already there at no cost.

There is no single CRA fax number. Fax lines belong to particular offices and programs, so the only reliable number is the one printed on the letter you are answering. Faxing without that reference risks your documents landing in the wrong queue. Submitting them through My Account, My Business Account or Represent a Client is faster and gives you a confirmation, which a fax does not.

The CRA can demand your records, and a court can order production. Anyone else, such as a landlord, lender, ex-spouse's lawyer or prospective employer, can ask, but only as a condition of dealing with you; you may refuse and accept that consequence. The CRA will not release your information to them without your authorisation. Where you need to prove income, a proof of income statement or notice of assessment from My Account usually satisfies them.

No. Filing and paying are legal obligations, not choices. What is voluntary is the self-assessment design: you report your own income and calculate the tax, and the CRA verifies afterwards. Ignoring the obligation leads to penalties, compounding interest, an assessment raised without your figures, and collection action such as garnishing wages. Arguments that income tax does not apply to individuals have failed in court every time. If you have unfiled years, ask about the CRA's voluntary disclosure route before it contacts you.

No. A private appraisal for a mortgage, refinancing or an estate is a report to you and your lender, and it does not feed the municipal assessment roll. Property tax uses the value set by the provincial assessment authority on its own cycle, from sales of comparable homes. A high appraisal does not raise that value and a low one does not lower your bill. Changing the assessment means asking the assessor to review it.

Owing tax does not disqualify you, though it can complicate approval. Lenders ask for filed returns and notices of assessment, and a self-employed applicant is usually assessed on the income reported there. An unpaid balance shows on the notice, and where the CRA has registered a lien against the property the lender will want it cleared first. Filed returns, a documented payment arrangement and a record of keeping to it all help. Requirements vary by lender.

Yes. Interest paid on a loan under a federal or provincial student loans programme gives a non-refundable credit, and any part you cannot use in the year you paid it can be carried forward and claimed in a later year, within the carry-forward window the CRA sets out. Only the student who took the loan can claim it; it cannot be transferred to a parent or spouse. Interest on a bank line of credit does not qualify.