Reputable NOA retrieval services are a fantastic tool for mortgage broker clients who want quick access to their Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) assessment for income validation.
But CRA has put the kibosh on third parties requesting for NOAs for this purpose. In fact, CRA says it was never supposed to happen in the first place.
“It has always been Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) policy that Form T1013, Authorizing or Cancelling a Representative, is not to be used solely for the purpose of obtaining a notice of assessment or income verification information for the taxpayer or a third party,” said Patrick Samson, a CRA spokesperson. “It recently came to our attention that Form T1013 was being used for income verification purposes, and this type of use is prohibited.”
“The purpose of Form T1013 is to allow taxpayers to authorize a tax preparer to manage their tax matters,” he adds. “The CRA has become aware that there are individuals and businesses who use Form T1013 solely for the purpose of obtaining the notice of assessment and charge a fee to their client for this service. This is not the intent of Form T1013. Taxpayers can get their notice of assessment and proof of income…from the CRA without any cost, in fast and convenient ways.”
“We have launched new services that allow taxpayers to verify their income through the CRA’s online and mobile services, which provide taxpayers immediate access to their NOAs and Proof of Income…Taxpayers can obtain their notice of assessment electronically through the My Account service.”
“In addition, through My Account and the new MyCRA mobile app, a taxpayer can request a ‘Proof of income statement,’ which can be received within days by mail. The My Account income verification statement also includes the taxpayer’s name, social insurance number and address information, all necessary to confirm the identity of the taxpayer.
“As an alternative to My Account, taxpayers can phone CRA to have a copy mailed to them…” Unfortunately, if a mortgage applicant can’t get My Account access, that solution may not help fast enough. “The processing time for requests by mail will take approximately 4 weeks,” says CRA.
I’m a big supporter of this service, if a client orders it on their own they have to wait for their codes in the mail to show up in order to order it online.
The quickest way to get NOA’s if clients don’t have “MyAccount” setup is to go to your local MP office with your ID and they can have them to you in 24 to 48 Hours….just saying!
I think you can sign up with your banking info and not have to wait.
^ +1
My Account CRA website lets you log in with your banking log-in info – no need to wait and accessible to all.
When I set up “my account” using my bank account login. It still requested an access code which was sent my mail and took 2 weeks? Can you confirm that has changed. Just getting into the portal is not enough. You also have to be able to access the correct documents.
I set my account up this way a couple months ago but maybe this has been adjusted?
Iv checked and am certain once you sign up to my account you have to request the access code to view notice of assessments which comes in the mail after 2 weeks+
Also the policy 100% changed this week as every e filer in Canada was notified. There is even a link above with the cra update. Cra has their phones ringing off the hook from accountants wondering if/why they cannot send clients their tax documents anymore.
Hopefully cra will be willing to listen to the benefits of this service and change their mind over time.
Have you tried to print your NOA or Proof of income statement from “My Account”. It doesn’t format properly. It’s pretty much useless until they fix it.
This service is dodgy, in my opinion. Almost as dodgy as CRA’s new NOA’s for lack of security features (for shame).
Many lenders want to see them now, so I coach my clients right away to get setup with My Account as soon as I see a client is: Hourly, part time, self employed, commissions, gets bonus’, works over 40 hour work week, has rentals….in any scenario where the client might need NOA history to confirm income, or they don’t owe taxes.
Overkill you say? Never had a client complain, not once and it’s saved me many times. It’s good business practice to make sure you, and you’re clients, are prepared and your own fault if you’re not.
Patrick Samson, a CRA spokesperson does not make the law and cannot dictate what clients use their own documents for. There are laws in this country and those rights are what our grandparents fought for in the war.
The Income tax act is a very old very specific law. No one has mentioned that yet. s241 (1) states that CRA agents are prohibited and not representatives. CRA also cannot just dictate who has an account and who does not. s241 (5)(b) states that representatives are authorized by the client and CRA cannot control that fiduciary duty. We are willing to fight this on behalf of the industry as an accounting firm that provides services the the Mortgage Broker Industry
Good luck to the industry.
http://www.MrTaxes.ca/poi is still open for business as we have been since 1986 and this service since 2008.
https://canadianmortgagetrends.com/canadian_mortgage_trends/2014/08/one-solution-for-quick-noas.html
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/prprrs/t1013-eng.html
Seems there is some confusion between different CRA departments. I contacted the E-file help desk and they said there will be an amended notification coming out shortly. They also said it can be business as usual for these services.
For those curious on how instant it would be for someone to get their own access. Here are the steps! I used a friend as a test subject.
1) Found the url for CRA “my account”
2) Clicked bank login partner (didn’t have his login info handy so had to track it down (side note some people dont even have online banking)
3) Found the info and got to the next screen where it asks for your line 135 of your 2015 tax return (that’s a dead stop for most, my friend doesn’t have his t1 so is calling his accountant to resend, many clients would not even know where to begin when reviewing a t1 general)
4) waiting period to get a hold of accountant….
4 hours later.
5) accountant sent t1 to friend, he found line 135 with my coaching.
6) next screen he is asked if he wants the access code mailed which takes 10 business days. He also have the option to have it emailed to you so he chose this option.
7) it then says sorry we have to verify your identity with more information, please call cra and ask to speak to someone in the my account department.
8) he stopped here and just requested the mail version
9) if he didn’t he would be waiting on hold, and is told to have his tax returns in hand and be ready to provide additional info. (which most people that use this service, do not have)
10) he would then receive the access code by email after that part I would assume, not sure on time frame for this part.
Alternative solution, sign t1013 when providing your mortgage broker documents. ID is being verified anyways and brokers have a general responsibility to prevent fraud. It’s the perfect process between convenience and privacy/security in my opinion.
So In essence it’s not instant but it is possible for determined clients with the above steps. If you polled 1000 people who have had their NOA’s pulled, im sure 95% + would prefer to sign the t1013 and pay than fumble through this process.
I just wanted to provide this info so everyone has both sides of the story. To quickly shrug off Noa providers and say that clients can instantly access their own is not reality.
Its easier to ask client to contact their accountant to get one. We regularly receive such requests and provide them right away free of cost. Now CRA has improved the service standard. The assessment is done right away and NOA is generally within a week. You can get mail like NOA starting from 2015.
1 week is far too long and the reason it is for free is because you are doing it for clients you earn from and only have to do it once in a while.
What about other accountants and their schedules. Again, I just don’t see why writing this concept off is a better idea than cra understanding the value and doing whatever auditing they have to in order to allow this to continue.
This service is complimentary to what accountants do and of course clients always have the choice as to how the obtain their documents.
During a mortgage transaction there are often times you need this document within 1 day.