After you apply

Once the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has started reviewing your request, we may contact you if we need help understanding what you provided, or to get any missing information.

In all cases, once we have finished our review, we will notify you, in writing, of our decision. Your request may be approved, partially approved, or denied. If your request is partially approved or denied, our letter will advise you on what you can do if you do not agree with our decision.

On this page

• If your request is approved
• If your request is denied

If your request is approved

Depending on your situation, any of the following may happen if your request is approved:

• Refund
• Reduce the amount of your refund
• Refund interest
• Applying your refund to other debts
• Your refund will be held until outstanding returns are filed

For more information on any of these situations, see paragraphs 90 to 99 of Information Circular IC7-1R1.

If your request is denied

If you believe that the CRA’s decision was not fair and reasonable or that discretion had not been properly exercised, there are recourse options available to you:

• Second administrative review (done by CRA)
• Judicial review (by the Federal Court if you are dissatisfied with the results of the CRA's second administrative review)

Second administrative review

If you believe that the CRA’s decision was not fair and reasonable or that discretion was not properly exercised, you may request a second review by doing one of the following:

• Writing to the address listed in the first decision letter received in response to your initial request for relief.
• Submitting a request electronically through your CRA account.
• Sending a letter to the intake centre responsible for your province or territory of residence:

  Office designated based on the province or territory of residence

  Province or territory of residence	Designated office
  Alberta British Columbia Saskatchewan Manitoba Northwest Territories Nunavut and Yukon	Eastern Prairie Tax Services Office 800-360 Main Street PO Box 1022 Stn Main Winnipeg MB R3C 2W2
  Ontario Quebec New Brunswick Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island Newfoundland and Labrador	Atlantic Tax Centre 275 Pope Road Summerside PE C1N 6A2
  Non-resident or international taxpayers	Send your request to one of the designated offices above

A second review request must include the following:

• The reasons why you disagree with the CRA's decision, for example, not all information was considered, certain facts or details were missing, misinterpreted, or not considered in their proper context
• Any relevant new documents, facts, or correspondence

For the CRA to remain impartial and transparent, all officials who completed the first review will not conduct the second administrative review.

The second administrative review is a new review and new decision.

Judicial review

If, after the second administrative review, you still feel that we were not fair and reasonable, you can apply to the Federal Court for a Judicial review of our decision. You must do this within 30 calendar days of the date you received the decision from the second administrative review.