Free tax clinic host’s identification number

Overview

The CVITP Organization Identification Number (COIN) is a unique and permanent, eight-digit identification number. It will remain the same for your organization year over year, even if there has been a break in your program participation.

If your organization is approved to participate in the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) or the Income Tax Assistance – Volunteer Program in Quebec (ITAVP), you will be assigned a COIN to retain for the duration of your organization’s participation in the program.

Purpose

The program will use the COIN for two administrative reasons:

1. Statistics and reporting
   • The COIN will count the number of federal income tax and benefit returns electronically filed by your organization through the CVITP-provided tax preparation software.
2. Verify tax clinic output reported on an organization’s CVITP Grant application
   • It is your organization’s responsibility to track the number of federal income tax returns filed through your free tax clinic. The identification number will only be used to verify your organization’s self-reported number.
   • If applying for the grant, the COIN must be used for the duration of your free tax clinic and included in your grant application.

How it works

• Your organization will receive a CVITP Organization Identification Number (COIN) in your registration approval letter
• Your organization is responsible for sharing the COIN with volunteers and ensuring this identification number is entered into the appropriate field of the CVITP-provided tax preparation software.
  • If a COIN has not been entered, the CVITP-provided tax preparation software will prompt the user to enter a COIN before transmission.
  • Should the user not wish to enter a COIN, the user may click “No” and proceed as normal.
  • Declining to include a COIN in the CVITP-provided tax preparation software will not impede a user's ability to prepare and successfully transmit a tax return; however, that tax return will not be attributed towards your organization’s total number of returns filed.

Important

It is not possible to add your organization’s identification number to an income tax return after it is filed.

• The COIN will be used to verify the number of self-reported income tax returns filed, as listed on your CVITP Grant application.
  • Each time your organization’s COIN is used to file a federal tax return using the CVITP-provided tax preparation software, the CRA will attribute one return to your organization for the purposes of the grant eligibility assessment.
  • The COIN will only count income tax returns prepared using the CVITP-provided software that are either filed electronically or printed and mailed that contain a barcode.
  • In 2021, the COIN will only be able to count tax returns prepared in the current year version of the CVITP-provided software. In the future, each new version of the annual software will include the ability to count returns.
• The COIN does not gather or keep any information on an individual’s income tax return.

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Date modified:

2021-01-07