Processing times and complexity levels - Income tax and GST/HST objections
2020 Phoenix pay system damages agreement with the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
Due to the anticipated volume of objections, you may experience a delay in the processing of your objection.
Every month, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) updates how long it will take on average for an appeals officer to be assigned to an objection and for the CRA to resolve it.
The number of days for the CRA to resolve an objection includes all the time that the objection is within the control of the Government of Canada but excludes the time it takes taxpayers to provide more information, if needed, to support their objection.
Objections are resolved on a case-by-case basis. There are three levels of complexity for objections – low, medium, and high. The timelines for each level of complexity are listed below.
Income tax objections
Low complexity income tax objections
Low complexity income tax objections resolved in March 2024 were completed in an average of 170 days from the date the objection was submitted. These objections include issues with individual tax credits, personal deductions, the Canada child benefit, and the disability tax credit.
The majority of low complexity income tax objections now being assigned to an appeals officer were received in November 2023.
In the 2022–2023 fiscal year, the CRA met its low complexity objections service standard 62% of the time.*
Medium complexity income tax objections
Medium complexity income tax objections resolved in March 2024 were completed in an average of 297 days from the date the objection was submitted. These objections usually include issues with business expenses, partnerships, more complex individual income tax issues, and small and medium corporation (T2) related issues.
The majority of medium complexity income tax objections now being assigned to an appeals officer were received in November 2023.
In the 2022–2023 fiscal year, the CRA met its medium complexity objections service standard 74% of the time.*
High complexity income tax objections
High complexity income tax objections take much longer to resolve than other objections because of their technical content. These objections usually involve large corporations, complex business transactions, international transfer pricing, general anti-avoidance rule assessments, and tax avoidance schemes.
They represent only 2% to 3% of the CRA's total Objections Program workload. On average, it may take over 690 days to resolve high complexity income tax objections.
During this time, CRA representatives are in regular contact with the taxpayers who submitted the objections.
Status of your objection
If you or your authorized representative have questions about the status of an objection that you have already filed and you do not have the contact information for your appeals officer, see “Progress Tracker” through our portals My Account, My Business Account or Represent a Client or call the objection enquiries phone line.
Objection enquiries toll-free line: 1-800-959-5513
Objection enquiries when calling from outside of Canada (collect calls accepted): 613-940-8563
GST/HST Objections
Low complexity GST/HST objections
Low complexity GST/HST objections resolved in March 2024 were completed in an average of 209 days from the date the objection was submitted. Few GST/HST objections are considered low complexity. They may involve issues such as the CRA making GST/HST assessments when returns have not been filed.
The majority of low complexity GST/HST objections now being assigned to an appeals officer were received in July 2023.
In the 2022–2023 fiscal year, the CRA met its low complexity objections service standard 62% of the time.*
Medium complexity GST/HST objections
Medium complexity GST/HST objections resolved in March 2024 were completed in an average of 277 days from the date the objection was submitted. These objections include issues with new housing rebates, input tax credits, and imposition of GST/HST.
The majority of medium complexity GST/HST objections now being assigned to an appeals officer were received in October 2023.
In the 2022–2023 fiscal year, the CRA met its medium complexity objections service standard 74% of the time.*
High complexity GST/HST objections
High complexity GST/HST objections take much longer to resolve than other objections because of their technical content. These objections usually involve large corporations, complex business transactions, and general anti-avoidance rule assessments.
They represent only 2% to 3% of the CRA's total Objections Program workload. On average, it may take over 500 days to resolve high complexity GST/HST objections.
During this time, CRA representatives are in regular contact with the taxpayers who submitted the objections.
Status of your objection
If you or your authorized representative have questions about the status of an objection that you have already filed and you do not have the contact information for your appeals officer, see “Progress Tracker” through our portals My Account, My Business Account or Represent a Client or call the objection enquiries phone line.
Objection enquiries toll-free line: 1-800-959-5513
Objection enquiries when calling from outside of Canada (collect calls accepted): 613-940-8563
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