CRA Letter While Living Abroad or Sent to Your Old Address

CRA letter sent to your old address: does the deadline still run?

Usually yes. A review letter sets its own reply date, and an objection deadline counts from the day the CRA sent the notice, not the day you read it (Income Tax Act, s. 165(1); s. 244(14), which presumes it sent on the date printed on it). So check the date on the letter and your CRA account today.

The CRA asks you to tell it your new address as soon as possible after a move. Whether a notice mailed to an outdated address still counts as sent is a fact-dependent legal question; do not plan around it.

Not simple if: a reassessment has already issued, the letter questions your residency or departure date, or more than one year is involved. Gather: the letter or notice (with its reference number), access to your CRA account, and proof of when you moved.

How do you read CRA mail from outside Canada?

Sign in to your CRA account: notices of assessment and reassessment and some review letters appear there. Some mail cannot be added online and still goes on paper, so if the account shows nothing but someone says a letter came, call.

• Online: in your CRA account, set your correspondence preference to electronic mail and update your address there; online address changes are immediate. With electronic mail, no paper copy is sent, and a notice counts as sent and received the day the CRA emails you that it is in your account (s. 244(14.1)), so keep that email address current and check it. For signing in from abroad, see CRA My Account from outside Canada.
• By phone: from outside Canada and the US, call 1-613-940-8495. The CRA accepts collect calls only through a phone operator. Have your SIN, full name, date of birth, the address the CRA has on file and a past notice of assessment ready.
• By mail: send Form RC325 to the address on the form; processing takes several weeks, too slow for a live deadline.

Is it a CRA review, a reassessment or a scam?

A review letter asks for documents; a notice of reassessment changes your tax. The CRA runs several review programs: some happen before your notice of assessment, others after it. The matching program compares your return with information from third parties such as employers and financial institutions, after assessment.

A common trap: a matching letter about a Canadian slip issued after you left, ignored because non-residents are assumed to be exempt. Leaving Canada does not end a review of a year you already filed. If the slip itself is wrong, see Canadian slips after leaving Canada. For what a review asks for and how it ends, see CRA reviews and audits. A letter about your residency is covered in the CRA residency questionnaire.

To check a call is real, do not trust caller ID or a number the caller gives you. End the call and verify the number with the CRA. For a letter, check your CRA account; if it is not there, call the CRA on a number from canada.ca, not one printed in the letter, and ask whether it is genuine.

How do you respond to a CRA review from overseas?

Reply by the date and to the address in the letter, and quote the reference number from its upper right corner. From abroad, uploading is faster than international post.

1. Sign in to your CRA account and choose to submit documents.
2. Enter the case or reference number from the letter; the upload page accepts common scan formats such as PDF and JPG.
3. Save the confirmation number shown after you submit.
4. If a receipt is missing, include a written explanation, or call the number at the bottom of the letter.

If you mail instead, use a tracked service and keep copies.

Can you get more time to reply to a CRA letter?

You can ask, ideally before the date passes. The CRA says to call the number at the bottom of the letter if you need more time. Calling from abroad means the outside-Canada line or an operator collect call. Note the date, the agent's name and the new date you were given.

Can someone in Canada deal with the CRA for you?

Yes, once you authorize them. A relative, friend or professional can then call, write and send documents for you (CRA: how to authorize).

The online route is the fastest. Mailing AUT-01 from abroad adds post time to a deadline that is already running.

The CRA already reassessed you: how do you object from abroad?

File a notice of objection by the later of 90 days after the date on the notice of reassessment and 1 year after the return's filing deadline (P148). Only the 90 days deadline applies to non-resident (Part XIII) tax and to tax on RRSP or TFSA contributions, such as TFSA contributions made after you left (s. 165(2.1)).

• Online: in your CRA account, choose to register a formal dispute; a representative can file for you. The CRA says online objections are assigned sooner.
• By mail or fax: send Form T400A or a signed letter with the facts and reasons to the Chief of Appeals, Appeals Intake Centre, at the Sudbury address in P148.

Collection of disputed income tax is normally held back while the objection is open, with exceptions that matter abroad: amounts that had to be withheld, such as non-resident withholding tax (s. 225.1(6)); a demand for immediate payment if the CRA suspects you have left Canada (s. 226(1)); and refunds or credits the CRA sets off even during an objection. Interest keeps running. If the CRA confirms the reassessment, you can appeal to the Tax Court within 90 days. How many years back the CRA can reach is covered in how far back the CRA can reassess.

Missed the CRA deadline while living abroad: is there still a way?

For a missed review reply, send the documents anyway with the reference number: after a review changes a claim, the CRA accepts new submissions and looks again. If a notice of reassessment has issued, also object within its deadline, to keep your right to dispute it. For a missed objection deadline, you can ask for an extension within one year after the deadline (Income Tax Act, s. 166.1).

The extension request must include the objection and the reasons for the delay. The law grants it only if you show all of these:

• During the objection period you could not act or instruct someone to act for you, or you genuinely intended to object.
• Granting it would be just and equitable.
• You applied as soon as circumstances permitted.

Apply through your CRA account or in writing to the Chief of Appeals (P148). After that window closes, the extension route is gone. If the CRA refuses the extension, or has not answered within 90 days, you can ask the Tax Court to grant it; after a refusal, apply within 90 days of the day it was mailed (s. 166.2). Penalties and interest are a separate request: you can ask the CRA to cancel them, and a request reaches back 10 calendar years; see penalties, interest and relief.

Which documents travel badly?

Foreign-language records, foreign tax documents and proof of your move cause most delays. For documents not in English or French, the CRA wants a copy of the original plus a translation signed by one of: a notary, lawyer or commissioner of oaths; a member of a Canadian provincial or territorial translators' organization; the foreign country's embassy or consulate; a CPA; or a teacher, professor or religious leader who states their profession. The signer's name must be in Latin letters, and you cannot sign your own translation.

Example

Illustrative figures in Canadian dollars.

Letter sent to the old flat

A designer in Berlin learns that a CRA letter reached her old Toronto flat four months ago, asking for receipts for C$6,000 of medical expenses. The reply date has passed. She signs in to her CRA account, finds the letter and a notice of reassessment removing the claim, and uploads the receipts with the reference number. Because the reassessment issued, she also objects: 90 days from its date may have passed, but the return was due less than 1 year ago, and the later date applies.

Reassessed last year

A retiree in Thailand was reassessed for C$9,000 of RRSP income he left off his return for his last year living in Canada. His objection deadline passed eight months ago. He is still within one year after it, so he applies for an extension, encloses his objection and explains he was in hospital during the objection period.

A brother in Calgary handles it

An engineer in Singapore gets a review letter and cannot take calls during Canadian business hours. He adds his brother as representative through his CRA account the same day. His brother calls the number on the letter, asks for more time and uploads the documents with the reference number.

Different for you?

• You never told the CRA you left, or its notices still treat you as a resident: see the CRA still thinks you are a resident (or, if you moved to the US, left Canada without telling the CRA) and get individual tax help.
• The letter questions your departure-tax values: see the CRA disputes your departure value.
• The reassessment left a balance you must pay from abroad: see CRA tax debt while living abroad.
• Years are unfiled since you left: see non-resident Canadian returns and catch-up.
• A reassessment issued, a deadline passed or several years are involved: get individual tax help before the extension window closes.