Last updated: Mar. 29, 2021
Originally published March 18, 2020.
The following is archived information. Please refer to the federal government for additional information.
On March 18th, the Federal Government announced a temporary suspension to audit interaction and debt collection in certain cases to help Canadians coping with the COVID-19 outbreak.
This announcement may impact you if you have:
1. RECEIVED AN AUDIT NOTICE
There will be no new audits for the next 4 weeks. Auditors will not contact small or medium businesses (or their representatives) to initiate new post assessment audits.
2. HAVE AN AUDIT ALREADY IN PROGRESS
Audits in progress will be suspended for most taxpayers.
3. AN OUTSTANDING BALANCE
If you have an outstanding debt you don’t need to worry about collection activities until further notice. Going forward flexible payment options will available to help manage payments.
4. PENALTIES AND INTEREST ON BALANCES OWED
Penalties and interest on balances owing may be waived. If you have balance with the CRA, you may be able to minimize interest and penalties by can submitting a request to have them waived if you can’t make a payment because of circumstances beyond your control.
5. FILED AN OBJECTION OR APPEAL
If you have filed an objection or appeal regarding a benefit or credit (or if we have filed it on your behalf), it will be processed as usual. There should be no delay in processing these objections. However, processing of objections or appeals related to other tax matters will be suspended until further notice.