How to change your income tax return after you file it
CRA SOURCE ARTICLE
Do you think that the income tax and benefit return you filed for the 2021 tax year is missing important details or that you made a mistake? Don’t worry, you don’t need to file a new return! Here’s what you can do if you need to change your return.
Wait for your notice of assessment (NOA)
Whether you filed online or mailed your income tax and benefit return, you need to wait to receive your NOA, which we will make available.
If you are registered for My Account, you can use Express NOA to view your NOA in your NETFILE certified tax software or in My Account. It will be available right after we receive and process your return. After your NOA is made available, you may submit an adjustment request.
Requesting changes to your tax return
Request changes online
You can change your return online by using the improved and simplified Change my return option found in My Account, or by using ReFILE. These services are the fastest, easiest and most secure way to change a return. If you cannot request changes online because your return is still being processed, you must wait until it has been assessed.
The draft legislation that includes the enhancement to the Educator School Supply Tax Credit and the Return of Fuel Charge Proceeds to Farmers Tax Credit has not received Parliamentary approval. Once the legislation is approved by Parliament, the CRA will process the tax returns with these refundable credits. Contact us if you have questions.
With the enhancements to Change my return, you may be prompted by questions and/or messages when errors are detected that must be resolved before you can proceed with your submission.
Send a paper adjustment request form
If you prefer, you can complete Form T1-ADJ, T1 Adjustment Request. Once completed, you can mail it to your tax centre. Please make sure to include all your supporting documents for the change(s) you want to make.
Tax credits
If you don’t need to use them to reduce your federal tax to zero, you may be able to transfer all or part of certain tax credits to your spouse or common-law partner. Please see Schedule 2 Federal amounts transferred from your spouse or common-law partner for more information.
How long will it take for the changes to be made?
If you submitted your request online, your change request will take about two weeks to be processed.
If you submitted your request by mail, your change request will take longer. Due to COVID-19, the CRA may take 10 to 12 weeks to process paper adjustments.
We consider some adjustment requests to be complex and they may take longer to process. Complex requests include situations where additional information or review is required.
For more information on processing times, go to CRA processing times.
You can request an adjustment for any of the 10 previous calendar years online or by mail. For example, a request made in 2022 must relate to 2012 or a later tax year. Adjustment requests for different years should be on different forms. But, they can be mailed in together or submitted to us at the same time.
After the CRA has reviewed your request
After we have reviewed your request to change your income tax return, you will receive:
a notice of reassessment, indicating the changes made to your return, or
a letter explaining why we did or did not make the changes you requested.
Your entitlement to benefits and credits such as the Canada child benefit and the GST/HST credit may be revised at a later date. In this case, a notice of redetermination will be sent to you under separate cover.
For more information
Changing the information on your tax return is easier than you think, go to How to change a return.
You can also check out our questions and answers about filing your taxes page for more answers to common questions.
You can learn more about tax filing, tax debts and payments by visiting the links above or by scheduling a free consultation with us.