Email notifications from the CRA – Individuals

Email notifications from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) let you know when important changes are made on your account and when you have mail to view in My Account.

To view the terms of use, go to Terms of use for email notifications.

An email address is required to use My Account

My Account users are required to have an email address on file with the CRA to help protect their accounts from fraudulent activity. This security feature ensures that you receive email notifications when important changes are made on your account.

While some email notifications will be mandatory to ensure the security of your account, such as when your address or direct deposit information is changed, you will be able to choose to receive additional optional notifications, such as when you have uncashed cheques.

This security feature will not affect your preferred method of receiving CRA mail. You will have the option to receive mail either by paper or an email notification when you have new mail to view in My Account.

If you are new to My Account, you will be asked to provide your email address as part of the registration process.

Email notifications you will receive

Once you have provided the CRA with an email address, we will send you email notifications when there are changes or updates related to the following topics:

You can also choose to receive additional optional email notifications when there are changes or updates related to the following topics:

CRA mail you will receive electronically

If your correspondence preferences are set to “Electronic mail,” you will receive an email notification when you have new mail from the CRA to view in My Account. You will not receive a paper copy in the mail.

Some examples of CRA mail you can currently receive online include:

The CRA adds more items to our email notification service every year. However, some mail cannot be sent electronically and will continue to be mailed on paper. If you need a paper copy of your electronic mail, you can sign in to My Account and print it.

If you still want to receive your mail from the CRA by paper, make sure “Electronic mail” is not ticked in your correspondence preferences. Your mail will still be available to view in My Account, but you will not receive an email notification about it.

Registering for email notifications from the CRA

There are many ways to register to receive email notifications from the CRA:

Once you are registered for email notifications, you can update your email address by signing in to My Account and selecting “Notification preferences”, or you can complete any of the options above with a new email address. You can only have one email address on file at a time.

The email address you provide is the one we will use to tell you that important changes were made on your account or that you have new mail to view in My Account.

You are responsible for making sure we have your correct email address at all times.

After you register or update your email address

Once you register or update your email address, we will send a confirmation email to the address you gave us. Depending on how you registered or updated your email address, you should receive your confirmation email within the following timelines:

If you do not get a confirmation email, sign in to My Account and check the email address on your profile. If the email address is wrong, update it. If it is correct, check your junk mail folder for an email from the CRA.

How to know if the email notification you received is from the CRA

Emails sent from the CRA’s email notification service will have the sender name Canada Revenue Agency / Agence du Revenu du Canada.

The CRA’s email notifications will not do the following:

For more information, visit Scam prevention and the CRA.

Differences between the online and paper versions of the notice of assessment or reassessment

Both the online and paper versions of the notice include all of the assessment information and are official CRA-issued federal income tax notices. However, there are differences between the online and the paper versions:

What to do if you need a paper copy of a notice

If your bank or anyone else needs a paper copy of a notice of assessment, all you need to do is sign in to My Account and print or download a copy. You can access and print copies of past notices of assessment (issued after February 9, 2015) anytime in My Account. Any notices issued to you after this date will be available as a print friendly PDF version within “Mail”.

Other email notifications you can receive about your account

You might receive an email notification from the CRA for other reasons, even if you are not registered for email notifications.

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