My Account - a handy tool

My Account is a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) online service designed to give you the convenience and flexibility of managing your personal income tax, Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB), and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Credit accounts on a secure website.

My Account allows you to access personal information such as your:
• tax refund or balance owing;
• account balance and payments;
• actual income tax returns;
• instalment account;
• Registered Retirement Savings Plan, Home Buyers’ Plan, and Lifelong Learning Plan status;
• CCTB and related provincial and territorial programs payments and account balances; and
• GST Credit and related provincial programs payments and account balances.

You can use My Account to manage your personal income tax account online, including:
• changing your address or telephone number;
• changing your tax return, after it has been filed and assessed; and
• disagreeing with your assessment – although we strongly urge you to consult with your accountant before taking this step yourself.

You cannot make payments through My Account. Likewise, you cannot print instalment reminder statements from My Account for purposes of remitting an instalment at your bank. This is because the remittance form has special magnetic ink required for processing by the financial institutions.

To access the services available through My Account, you will have to register for a Government of Canada epass. Registration is a three-step process wherein you:
1. authenticate yourself with the CRA by providing specific personal information (your social insurance number, your date of birth, the amount reported on line 150 of your 2003 or 2004 income tax return, and your postal / zip code);
2. create an epass User ID and Password, after which CRA will mail your personal CRA Activation Code to you; and
3. upon receipt of the activation code (which has an expiry date), return to the My Account page and enter the code.

This service is secure and you can help keep it that way by not providing your personal information to others (i.e. SIN, line 150 amount, activation code, etc). If you are logged into the My Account service and you do not perform any activity for more than 20 minutes, your session will automatically close and you will have to log in again to continue.

Currently, My Account is not accessible by third parties including your spouse and other family members, your accountant or your banker / broker. Even if your accountant has authorization allowing CRA to speak directly with them, they cannot access your information through My Account. In 2006, CRA is expecting to offer an online service for representatives that will allow them, when authorized, to access information and services for clients.

The CRA website http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/eservices/tax/individuals/myaccount/menu-e.html has very helpful, easy-to-read information about My Account and the process for using My Account is quite user-friendly. It’s a terrific tool for determining, confirming or changing / updating personal information. Depending on your specific needs at the time, it’s a great alternative to the busy signals and long waits when calling CRA. There is tremendous future potential with this system.

Caren MacLeod, CGA
Tax Manager
Scott, Rankin & Gardiner