CRA My Account from outside Canada: sign in and register

Can I access my CRA account from outside Canada?

Yes. The CRA's sign-in pages set no condition on where you sign in from. What decides access is whether you can register and verify your identity, and both depend on details the CRA already holds: your number, your last assessed return and your address on file.

To register with a CRA user ID and password, the CRA registration page asks for:

• your date of birth;
• your social insurance number (SIN), or if you have none, a temporary tax number (TTN) or individual tax number (ITN);
• amounts from a return assessed in the last two years, as you first reported them, even if the return was later reassessed (registration process).

If you have not filed for the current or previous tax year, you cannot register with a CRA user ID or a Sign-In Partner until you do; the provincial partner route below is the one exception. That is the usual block for people who stopped filing after they left.

What makes a case not simple: an old Canadian address on file, no recently assessed return, unfiled years, or a CRA letter with a deadline already running. Gather your SIN (or ITN), your last notice of assessment, your current address abroad and an accepted photo ID before you start. Already locked out? The outside-Canada collect line is below.

How do I verify my identity from abroad?

You have two routes: the document verification service, which gives full access right away, or a CRA security code mailed to the address on file, which gives limited access until you enter it (About My Account).

The document verification service accepts original, unexpired government photo ID: a Canadian passport, driver's licence, permanent resident card or provincial or territorial photo ID card, a Secure Certificate of Indian Status issued as of February 2019, or an Australian, British or New Zealand passport. Expired documents, photocopies and health cards are refused. If you hold none of these, the mailed code is your route.

The CRA mails the security code within 10 business days to the address it has on file, and the code expires. The CRA states no delivery time for addresses outside Canada. When you request the code, you enter the postal or ZIP code of your current mailing address; if you live outside Canada and the US, no postal code is needed (verify your identity).

A Sign-In Partner lets you sign in with an online account you already hold at a participating Canadian financial institution. It replaces the user ID and password, not the registration checks.

My CRA address is still in Canada: what do I fix first?

Fix the address first. The security code goes to the address the CRA has on file, and the CRA tells people who moved recently to update their address by contacting it before registering (Using My Account). If the postal code you enter does not match the file, you must contact the CRA to update the address.

Inside My Account, changing your address needs full access. So with only an old address and no accepted photo ID, the order is: call the CRA to update the address, then request the code. Telling the CRA you have left is its own step; see telling the CRA you are leaving Canada.

Which sign-in codes should I set up before I leave?

Set up the authenticator app or the passcode grid, ideally both. The CRA sends phone passcodes only to numbers in countries that take part in the North American Numbering Plan, such as Canada and the US. A number elsewhere cannot receive them (multi-factor authentication).

When you register, the CRA prompts you to enroll in two options; only one is mandatory, but the second is what saves you if the first is lost. If you lose your only option, you must contact the CRA. Too many wrong passcodes lock you out for 30 minutes, and three such lockouts lock you out permanently.

What can I do in My Account as a non-resident?

With limited access (code not yet entered), you can only view a few things, such as your return status, notices of assessment and reassessment, and your RRSP and TFSA room (services in My Account).

Direct deposit goes only to an account at a Canadian bank or credit union (direct deposit for non-residents). For refund options with no Canadian account, see tax refunds as a non-resident. Filing and paying from abroad are covered in filing your departure return from abroad.

I have an ITN or an NR number, not a SIN: which online account fits?

An ITN or TTN can replace the SIN when you register for a CRA account; you still need a return assessed in the last two years (registration). The About My Account page lists a SIN as a requirement, and the CRA pages do not say which My Account services an ITN or TTN holder gets.

A non-resident tax account (number format NR plus a letter and six digits) is used to remit Part XIII tax withheld on amounts paid to non-residents, such as rent, pension or investment income. If you only receive that income, you use your individual My Account; a Part XIII refund request (Form NR7-R) can be sent there through Submit documents (direct deposit for non-residents). It has its own section in the CRA account, Non-Resident Withholding Tax. If you were given an NR number, you can add it to your CRA account after registering. There you can manage address and direct deposit, view balances and transactions, and manage representatives.

If you have no number at all, see filing without a valid SIN.

I cannot get in: how do I let a representative act for me?

If you can sign in, add the representative in your profile, or confirm a request they sent through Represent a Client.

If you cannot register yourself, a representative can still ask for online access through Represent a Client by giving information from your notice of assessment for a return processed at least six months ago. If you cannot provide that either, the CRA may ask for your signed consent and may call you to confirm (how to authorize).

Form AUT-01 is the paper route and gives offline access only: phone, mail, fax and in person. Send it within six months of signing, to the tax centre listed on the form; for a non-resident tax (NR) account, the CRA lists the Sudbury Tax Centre.

Locked out abroad: how do I reach the CRA from outside Canada?

Call 1-613-940-8495 collect. The line serves individual tax enquiries, security codes and CRA account help from outside Canada and the US, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern time, and the CRA accepts only collect calls placed through an operator (contact information). If you think someone else has used your account, the automated outside-Canada line is 1-613-221-3176 collect, every day 6 am to 3 am Eastern; the staffed individual-accounts line is 1-613-221-3117 collect, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm.

A letter with a deadline does not wait for you to regain access. For answering one from abroad, see a CRA letter while living abroad.

Example

These examples are illustrative.

Set up before leaving

Hana moves to Seoul. Before she goes, she registers, adds an authenticator app and a passcode grid, and changes her address to Seoul in My Account. Her Canadian phone number lapses, but she still signs in with the app, reads her notices and uploads documents without waiting for mail.

Old address, British passport

Tom left Toronto two years ago, still files a return each year, and never updated his address; a mailed code would go to his old flat. He holds a British passport, so he tries the document verification service; if his passport passes the check, he gets full access at once and updates his address. Had he not had an accepted passport, he would call the collect line to change the address first, then request the code.

No recent assessed return

Mei stopped filing after she left and has no return assessed for the current or previous year, so she cannot register. Her representative requests online access with details from a notice of assessment for a return processed at least six months ago; failing that, she signs Form AUT-01 for offline access while her missing returns are filed. Once a return is assessed, she can register.

Different for you?

• You have unfiled years and cannot register: see non-resident returns and catch-up and get individual tax help.
• You are locked out and a CRA letter or deadline is pending: see a CRA letter while living abroad and get individual tax help.
• You have not yet told the CRA you left: see telling the CRA you are leaving Canada.
• Your SIN expired or you never had one: see filing without a valid SIN.
• You expect a refund with no Canadian bank account: see tax refunds as a non-resident.
• You also own a Canadian corporation: its accounts are separate from your personal My Account; see corporation residency after the owner moves abroad and get corporate tax help.
• You need to file your departure return from abroad: see filing your departure return from abroad.