Mail

Mail is a secure electronic service that lets you use the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website to review certain correspondence items issued to you from the CRA.

The information provided here will help you understand what you can do in Mail.

If you need more information or help with Mail, call us at 1-800-959-8281.

Search options

Rather than searching through the list of correspondence items that are available, you can refine the list by using the criteria in the “Search options” section.

Correspondence type

Only certain correspondence items issued to you from the CRA are eligible to be displayed through Mail. To refine your search to show a specific correspondence item, you can choose a correspondence type from the drop-down list.

To use this option, select from the following correspondence types to filter the list:

• All (includes all the types of correspondence listed below)
• Instalments
• Letters
• Notices
• Statements
• Information
• Preassessment review letters
• Processing review letters

Date range

The Date range drop-down will let you filter any correspondence items that were issued within a time period. When you first access Mail, the date range will be the last twelve months. The list of correspondence items can be refined by selecting another option. Items can be selected as many times as you like. Eligible correspondence items issued to you since February 15, 2016, will be available for display for up to ten years.

Status

To use this option, select from the following statuses:

• All
• Unread
• Read

Refine the list

Each time you change the search criteria you must select the “Refine the list” button to change the list of results based on the selections you made.

List of correspondence items

By default, the most recently issued correspondence items show at the top of the list. You can change the sequence of your search results by selecting the up and down arrows at the top of each column.

The list of correspondence items will display with information in the following columns:

Status

The status column shows whether a correspondence item has been read. If the item has not been read, the status will be “Unread.” If the item has been read, the status will be “Read.”

Date

The Date column shows the date the correspondence item was issued.

Correspondence item

The correspondence item column briefly describes the item and has a link to the item. Select the item you want to view, print, or save by clicking on the link in the description and the item will download in hypertext markup language (HTML) format.

Print format

The Print format column has a link to the correspondence item in a printer-friendly format. Select the item you want to view, print, or save by clicking on the portable document format (PDF) link and the item will download.

Year

The year column shows the tax year the correspondence item was issued for.

Reference number

A reference number can be another number assigned to your correspondence item. Not all items have a reference number. When there is a reference number, it will help you identify the item.