Ottawa: The Government of Canada is committed to improving services to Canadians and making sure the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is more helpful and easier to use. To deliver on this commitment, the CRA continues to expand its offering of online services.
The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, is pleased to announce that more Canadians than ever used the CRA’s online services to file their income tax and benefit returns this filing season. Digital filing is a fast, easy and secure way to send a return to the CRA. In addition, those who filed online and signed up for direct deposit can receive their refund in as little as eight business days.
As of May 2, 2017, almost 22 million returns, close to 90% of those received this year, were filed online. Up-to-date individual income tax return statistics for this tax-filing season are available on the CRA website.
Minister Lebouthillier has also confirmed that so far this filing season, there has been a 21% increase in new registrations for the CRA’s online service portals, including My Account. My Account gives individuals access to the CRA’s full suite of online self-service options and services such as Auto-fill my return. Auto-fill my return allows taxpayers to automatically fill in certain parts of their current- and prior-year returns.
The Minister also wishes to remind Canadians that they should file a tax return each year to ensure they receive the benefits they may be eligible for.
Quick Facts
Between February 20 and May 2, 2017:
· Tax information was delivered quickly and securely for over 7.3 million individual requests using the CRA’s digital service Auto-fill my return.
· More than one million Canadians have registered for online mail, the fast, easy, and secure way to manage tax correspondence.
· The CRA has refunded over $22 billion to Canadians, for an average refund of $1,676.
· 41,565 individuals and authorized representatives used the Express Notice of Assessment service to view the result of an assessment immediately after filing a return and to receive a notice of assessment the next day.
· Over 9 million Canadians received their refund by direct deposit. So far, approximately 70% of taxpayers getting a refund receive it by direct deposit compared to 67% at the same time last year.
