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| Government Agencies going paperless by Bernadette Mitchell We have been hearing this for 20+ years, but Governing bodies are once step closer to this being a reality. We have been told that neither the CRA, nor the Alberta Government will mail out notices of assessment going forward. You will need to have direct deposit set up to receive any tax refunds, and My CRA Business and TRACS acconts set up to get any information on your corporate tax, payroll, or GST accounts. You will also need a My CRA Business account in order to grant access to any authorized representatives (like Omni). If we do not already have online access to your information, you will need to set this up in order to grant us access. I am including a link to the page for setting up the my CRA business account. If you have on-line banking for your corporation, this can be a faster option for getting your corporate federal account set up as they can verify much of the needed information. https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/e-services/digital-services-businesses/business-account.html The Alberta Government process can be a bit more complex. You may need to have a My Alberta Digital ID before you begin the process. Here is the link for setting up your TRACS account: https://tracs.alberta.ca/publicTracs/enrolTRACS.do?event=init You will need your Alberta Corporate Access Number. This can be found on your Alberta Corporate Registries annual return, and will begin with a 2. Once you have completed the application process, they will send you an enrollment letter, that will have a PIN number printed on it. Please forward this information to us ASAP, as we need it to add you to our system with the Alberta Government. Please note these PIN numbers expire. The reason it is important to get these online accounts set up is, we are no longer going to be able to paper file any types of returns for corporate tax without penalty. Please make sure we have online access for your file prior to the deadline for filing your T4, T5, GST, or Tax returns. The penalty for paper filing T4 or T5 slips starts at $100.00. If we do not have online access to your account before the end of February, we will include the penalty amount with your T4 slip invoice. We have been told that the CRA is going to be reaching out to people who do not have MY CRA accounts by telephone. Until we know how they are going to verify that they are not scammers trying to steal your information, we caution you about giving anyone your information. It never hurts to have them answer some verification questions – like the name of the firm that filed your last corporate tax return 🙂 When in doubt, get all their information, including their agent ID#, and then call the 1-800-959-5525 (business) 1-800-959-8281 (personal) to confirm they are who they say they are. All the best of the season to everyone, and we look forward to seeing everyone during tax season! Brenda, Bernadette, Meghan, & Cindy |
Call us: (403) 291-9047 Toll Free: 1(877) 807-2335
