Screening and identifying the individual
On this page
- Screening for eligibility
- Confirming the individual's identity in person
- Confirming the individual's identity virtually
Screening for eligibility
All individuals must be screened to ensure they meet the eligibility for the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) before a volunteer starts preparing their tax return. Depending on your role or organization, you may be responsible for completing the eligibility screening of an individual’s information. Refer to the eligibility criteria under Introduction to free tax clinics.
File my Return
This Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) service offers eligible individuals the ability to submit their tax return by answering a series of short questions through an automated phone service. Only individuals who receive an invitation letter from the CRA may participate. If during the screening process an individual confirms they received a File my Return invitation letter, you should verify if they contacted the CRA.
- If the individual contacted the CRA to use File my Return, their tax return has already been submitted, and no further action is required.
- If the individual has not yet contacted the CRA, you should ask if they wish to use the File my Return service and may offer to assist with the call.
- You may also instead offer to complete their tax return in person or virtually by using the CVITP tax preparation software.
For more information on this automated service, refer to File my Return.
Confirming the individual's identity in person
The individual needs to provide proof of identity before you start preparing their tax return.
Proof of identity must:
- be valid
- be government issued
- include a photo
Examples of valid identification include:
- provincial or territorial (or equivalent abroad) driver's license or photo identification
- Canadian or foreign passport
- Indian status and identification card
- military or other government employee identification card
Confirming the individual's identity virtually
Use one of the following options to confirm an individual’s identity in a virtual clinic:
- The organization may advise you that an individual’s identity is already confirmed in which case, you do not need to authenticate further.
or
- You may already know the individual personally and can confirm their identity. If so, you do not need to authenticate further.
or
- You can visually confirm the individual’s identification on camera using a video-conferencing application. Ask the individual to display their photo ID to their webcam for verification.
or
- You may use Auto-fill my return (AFR) to confirm the individual’s identity, once their information is uploaded to the tax return software.
Read more
- For example, without divulging any information, you may ask the individual to confirm their employer’s name, their source of income, or the amount showing in a specific box on one of their slips.
For more information on using AFR, you can review the information in Before you begin and How to use Auto-fill my return.
or
- If you are unable to use any of the previous options, you may contact the CRA by email and request that they confirm the individual’s identity over the phone.
Read more
Send the email to VIRTUALG@cra-arc.gc.ca with “Taxpayer’s authentication” in the subject line and in the body of the email include the following information:
- date and time, including time zone, the volunteer spoke to the individual
- volunteer’s full name, province, and, if applicable, the first three digits of their EFILE number
- individual’s name, contact information, and language of correspondence
- call back date and time requested
You can include the names of up to five individuals in each email to the CRA.
Nice to know
The CRA will make every effort to call the individual at the date and time requested, however this may not always be possible.
Advise the individual:
- to expect a call within one (1) business day or on the requested date and time
- to expect the CRA agent to confirm the date the individual and the volunteer determined (this will ensure the individual is not dealing with a fraudster)
- to be ready to respond to the CRA employee’s questions to confirm their identity by having information available such as prior year tax returns, T4 slips, etc.
The CRA will advise you, the volunteer, by email of the outcome of the call. If the individual’s identity was confirmed, you can contact the individual and proceed with preparing their tax return. If not, follow the instructions provided in the email.
Important note
The CRA will try to offer assistance in the preferred language of the individual, however this may not always be possible. If a preferred language request is made, the turnaround time on the call may be longer than one (1) business day.
If you are assisting the individual’s legal representative, it is important to validate their identity and ensure they show proof of the Power of attorney (POA) for the individual you are preparing a tax return for (this includes a spouse or common-law partner who is not present). If they do not have the legal documentation on hand, you can follow the steps below:
- contact the dedicated help line for volunteers
- have the individual speak with the CRA telephone agent to answer confidentiality questions
- confirm if the CRA has a record of the authorization on file.
- Date modified: