What to expect when the Canada Revenue Agency contacts you

Scammers posing as the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) continue to mislead Canadians.

How to know it's really the CRA

A legitimate CRA employee will identify themself when they contact you by phone, providing you with their name and phone number to call them back, if needed.

If you're suspicious, you can make sure the caller is a CRA employee before providing any information over the phone.

Here's how:

1. Tell the caller you would like to first verify their identity.
2. Request and make a note of their:
   • name
   • phone number
   • office location
3. End the call. Then check that the information provided during the call was legitimate by contacting the CRA. Please do this before you give any information to the caller.

Once you complete these three steps, you can call the CRA employee back to discuss the reason for their call.

When the CRA contacts you, we may:

• ask you for personal information (e.g. name, date of birth, social insurance number) to verify your identity
• ask you for details about your account and request more information when needed (e.g. receipts, documents)
• ask you to file missing tax returns
• call you or write to you to begin an audit process
• notify you by email when something is available for you to view in CRA's sign-in services
• email you a CRA link, form, or publication when you request one during a call or a meeting with an agent
  • The e-mail will come from CRA.DoNotReply-NePasRepondre.ARC@cra-arc.gc.ca with the subject line "Your CRA Links."
  • The email will not:
    • come from a specific user;
    • have any content beside CRA links; or
    • invite any email reply.
• ask you for financial information such as the name of your bank and its location
• ask you to pay an amount you owe through any of the CRA's payment options
• call you or write to you about legal actions the CRA may take to recover the money you owe, if you do not pay your debt

Other reasons the CRA may contact you:

• we are reviewing your return
• we are reviewing a recent registration for GST/HST or your GST/HST registration requirement
• to offer free tax help for your small business through our Liaison Officer service
• to offer support in helping your clients access their benefits and credits
• if your CRA user ID and password have been revoked
• to send you a notice of assessment or reassessment

Automated courtesy calls

To remind you of income tax and benefit return filing, or those who may be required to pay their tax by quarterly instalments, we may send an automated telephone message.

Automated telephone messages from the CRA are courtesy reminders and will not include personal taxpayer information and will not ask you for personal information.

Businesses in Canada with a new GST/HST account may also get an automated message from us to remind them about filing deadlines and making payments.

The CRA will not:

• demand immediate payment by:
  •  Interac e-transfer
  •  Cryptocurrency (Bitcoin)
  •  Prepaid credit cards
  •  Gift card from retailers such as iTunes, Amazon, or others
• ask you for a fee to speak with a contact centre agent
• set up a meeting in a public place to take a payment from you
• use aggressive language or threaten you with arrest, deportation or sending the police
• leave voicemails that are threatening you, or that include your personal or financial information
• send you an email or text message with a link to your refund
• email or text you a link asking you to click on it or fill in an online form with personal or financial details
• use text messages or instant messaging such as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp to start a conversation with you about your taxes, benefits, or My Account

As an added security measure, the CRA has introduced multi-factor authentication for all of its sign-in services. If you enrolled with the telephone option and selected the "Text me" option, you will receive a text message with a one-time passcode each time you sign in to your CRA account.

Checking your CRA account

Confirm your CRA account information online through one of the CRA's sign-in services.

Or by phone, use the Tax Information Phone Service to get personal and general tax information from our automated phone service by calling 1-800-267-6999.

If you want to speak with an agent to verify if the CRA contacted you:

Reporting a potential scam

You should report a scam if you suspect either of the following:

• you have been the victim of fraud
• a scammer has tricked you into giving personal or financial information

To report a scam, visit the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre page, follow the instructions on our Be Scam Smart page, or call 1-888-495-8501. If you think you may be the victim of fraud or you unknowingly provided personal or financial information, contact all of the following:

• your local police service
• your financial institution
• credit reporting agencies

You should contact the CRA if you:

• think your CRA account has been compromised
• find changes you did not request to your banking, address, business, or personal information
• find a benefit application made for you without your knowledge
• want to disable online access to the CRA's sign-in services
• want to enable online access to CRA sign-in services after it has been disabled

For more information on how to recognize CRA-related scams and what to do if you suspect you're the victim of a scam, visit the Scam prevention at the CRA page.