Managing your taxes in Canada used to mean phone queues, paper letters, and waiting weeks for answers. CRA My Account changes that entirely. This secure online portal gives you direct access to your tax information, benefit amounts, RRSP and TFSA room, and the ability to communicate with the Canada Revenue Agency — all at any hour of the day. This guide walks through every feature so you can get the most from the portal in 2025.
CRA My Account is a secure, self-service portal located at canada.ca/cra-login. It is the personal version of CRA's online suite — there is also My Business Account for sole proprietors and corporations, and Represent a Client for authorized tax professionals. Once registered, you can access up to 11 years of your tax history, check your deduction limits, update personal information, set up direct deposit, and send or receive correspondence with CRA — without ever picking up the phone.
The portal is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, though CRA schedules brief maintenance windows (usually overnight or on weekends) that are announced in advance. For the vast majority of Canadians, access is effectively always on.
There are two ways to register. Neither requires visiting a CRA office.
This method creates a dedicated CRA user ID and password. To verify your identity you will need your Social Insurance Number, your date of birth, your current postal code, and a dollar amount from a tax return filed in a previous year — typically the amount on line 15000 (total income) or your refund amount. CRA cross-references these details against their records.
Once your identity is confirmed, CRA mails a security code to your address on file. That code arrives within 5 to 10 business days. Until it arrives you can sign in but some features are restricted. After you enter the code, full access is unlocked. This method works well if you do not use online banking or prefer to keep your banking and government logins completely separate.
This is the fastest path to full access. CRA has partnered with major Canadian financial institutions — including TD, RBC, BMO, Scotiabank, CIBC, Desjardins, Tangerine, and several credit unions — so you can authenticate using your existing online banking login. You are redirected to your bank's secure login page, verify your identity there, and then return to CRA My Account with full access granted immediately. No waiting for a code in the mail.
An important clarification: CRA does not receive your banking credentials. Your bank simply confirms to CRA that you are who you say you are. The process is similar to signing into a third-party app using your Google account — your Google password never leaves Google. Sign-In Partner access provides exactly the same features as the CRA Login method.
CRA strongly recommends enabling two-factor authentication (2FA) on your account. Once set up, signing in requires both your password and a one-time code delivered by SMS to your mobile number or generated by an authenticator app. Certain higher-security actions — such as changing banking information or authorizing a representative — may require this second verification step regardless. Setting up 2FA takes under two minutes and significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access to your tax information.
You can view and download your filed T1 returns and the corresponding Notices of Assessment (NOAs) going back up to 11 years. This is especially useful when applying for a mortgage, proving income to a landlord, or reviewing a discrepancy with an employer.
Your available RRSP contribution room is displayed in real time and is the most accurate source available — more reliable than any estimate you calculate manually. It accounts for prior-year contributions, pension adjustments, and carry-forward room. For 2025, the RRSP contribution limit is 18% of your 2024 earned income up to a maximum of $32,490, plus any unused room from prior years.
Similarly, your available TFSA room is tracked here with full precision. CRA My Account reflects withdrawals made in a prior calendar year, which are added back to your room on January 1. The cumulative TFSA limit for a Canadian resident who has been eligible since 2009 is $102,000 as of 2025. Always verify your room here before making a contribution to avoid the 1% per month over-contribution penalty.
The portal displays your Canada Child Benefit (CCB) payment amounts, GST/HST credit entitlements, Old Age Security (OAS) details, and other federal benefits. You can see upcoming payment dates and the calculation basis for each benefit.
Update your banking information directly in My Account so that refunds, CCB payments, and GST/HST credits arrive in your account within days rather than weeks. Changes take effect quickly, and the portal confirms the update immediately.
Change your mailing address, phone number, and marital status without mailing a form or calling CRA. Keeping this information current ensures you receive correspondence and that your benefit calculations remain accurate.
Employers, financial institutions, and other payers submit T4s, T5s, T3s, and other slips directly to CRA. My Account aggregates these so you can see every slip filed on your behalf. This is particularly valuable if you are missing a slip from an issuer or want to confirm all income sources before filing.
Set up scheduled tax payments directly from your bank account. This is useful for paying a balance owing on your return, making quarterly instalment payments, or clearing an arrears balance. You choose the date and amount, and CRA debits your account accordingly.
If CRA sends a review letter or requests supporting documents, you can upload and submit those documents directly through My Account. This is far faster and more secure than mailing paper documents, and you receive confirmation that the submission was received.
Made an error on a prior-year return or forgot to claim a deduction? You can request an adjustment online for returns going back 10 years. My Account submits the T1-ADJ electronically and you can track its status through the same portal.
Check exactly where your return is in the processing queue. CRA typically processes electronically filed returns within two weeks; paper returns can take eight weeks or longer. My Account shows the date your return was assessed and when a refund is issued.
View your instalment payment history and the amounts CRA has calculated for your upcoming instalments. Self-employed individuals and those with significant investment income often need to pay tax in quarterly instalments; My Account makes it straightforward to track these.
This feature allows you to grant a tax professional — such as the team at Swift Accounting Calgary — access to your CRA account. You provide their RepID (for individuals) or Business Number, set an expiry date, and choose whether to grant view-only access or full update access. The representative can then prepare and file on your behalf, respond to CRA on your behalf, and access the same information you see. Authorization can be revoked at any time through My Account.
CRA maintains a list of refund cheques it has issued that were never cashed. If you moved and a cheque was sent to an old address, you can identify it here and request reissuance — or better yet, set up direct deposit to prevent this going forward.
My Account lets you compare the slips CRA received from third-party issuers against what you reported on your return. If there is a discrepancy, it is better to identify and address it proactively through a T1-ADJ than to wait for a CRA review letter.
The "Authorize my representative" function is one of the most practical features in the portal. Rather than sharing login credentials — which violates CRA's terms of use — you grant a structured, auditable level of access using your accountant's RepID. You control the scope and duration of access, and you can see a log of what your authorized representative has viewed or changed.
If you work with Swift Accounting, authorizing our firm through My Account allows us to retrieve your slips directly, check your RRSP and TFSA room, and correspond with CRA on your behalf — which often resolves issues faster than the alternatives. Ask us for our RepID and we will walk you through the authorization steps.
If you register using the Sign-In Partner method with your online banking credentials, access is immediate and full. If you register using a CRA user ID and password, you receive partial access right away and full access after entering the security code CRA mails to you, which typically arrives within 5 to 10 business days.
Yes. CRA never receives your banking credentials. The Sign-In Partner process uses your bank's own authentication system to verify your identity and then passes a confirmation — not your credentials — back to CRA. Your banking information remains entirely with your financial institution.
CRA's TFSA room calculation depends on slips submitted by financial institutions, which can sometimes lag by several months. If your room looks incorrect, verify that all your financial institutions have filed the appropriate slips, and allow time for the current year's data to be processed. If the discrepancy persists, contact CRA or ask your accountant to review your contribution history.
CRA My Account does not include a full tax return filing interface. To file a T1 return you need NETFILE-certified software (such as TurboTax, Wealthsimple Tax, or similar). However, once your return is filed, all resulting assessments, slips, and correspondence flow through My Account. For prior-year adjustments, the T1-ADJ can be submitted directly through the portal.
Setting up and navigating CRA My Account is straightforward once you know what each section does. If you have questions about your RRSP room, a CRA review letter, or want to authorize a representative, contact Swift Accounting and we will help you make sense of what CRA is showing — and what to do next.
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