Tax refunds: When to expect your refund
Reminder: The CRA has resumed its work to address taxpayer debt. Benefit and credit payments and tax refunds may be applied to pay down outstanding balances. If your debt repayment causes significant financial hardship, please contact the CRA directly to discuss your options – even if you have a payment plan in place already.
Learn more about how specific benefits will be impacted at canada.ca/balance-owing.
How you file affects when you get your refund
The Canada Revenue Agency's goal is to send your refund within:
- 2 weeks, when you file online
- 8 weeks, when you file a paper return
These timelines are only for returns that the CRA receives on or before their due date.
Refunds may take up to 16 weeks if you live outside Canada and file a non-resident personal income tax return.
The CRA may take longer to process your return if your return is selected for a more detailed review.
If you use direct deposit, you could get your refund faster.
Why haven’t you received your refund?
The CRA may keep all or part of your refund if you:
- owe or are about to owe an amount
- have a garnishment order under the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act
- have certain other outstanding federal, provincial, or territorial government debts, such as student loans, employment insurance (EI) and social assistance benefit overpayments, immigration loans, or training allowance overpayments
- have any outstanding GST/HST returns from a sole proprietorship or partnership
- have a refund of $2 or less
Interest on your refund
The CRA will pay you compound daily interest on your 2022 tax refund. The calculation will start on the latest of the following three dates:
- May 30, 2023
- the 30th day after you file your return
- the day after you overpaid your taxes
For more information, see Prescribed interest rates.
- Date modified: