Personal Tax Filings, CRA Auto-Fill Not Reliable

It’s the middle of April, and tax preparers are unable to use the CRA’s Auto-fill service with any confidence that the information is complete.

The CRA has acknowledged that the problem has come from a newly implemented system to validate information slips uploaded by organizations. They have also noted that the problems are “of concern to taxpayers”.

But don’t worry, “the CRA is actively working to address any outstanding issues”.

Until then, the CRA recommends that slips be entered manually but has not mentioned anything about a possible extension to the T1 filing deadline.

This means more work for tax preparers at a cost they may not be able to recover from their clients. There is also the distinct possibility of missing some information.

As much as none of us want to continue preparing tax returns into the spring, the CRA should be announcing an extension now for everyone, as opposed to their usual standard of waiting until the deadline is imminent.

Let us repeat this. The CRA acknowledges that their system is not working properly. They are telling people to input slips manually, and it is the middle of April. This imposes an extra burden on tax return preparers without any meaningful notice and will cost clients more.

At the time of writing, the CRA has not announced a general extension to the deadline for filing personal tax returns by April 30. There is an extension until June 2, 2025, for taxpayers who had capital gains transactions in 2024.

The challenges the CRA faced because of the proposed and withdrawn increase in the capital gains inclusion rate are understandable, and their solution is somewhat helpful.

They should be taking the same approach universally given that their system is the cause of the current problems.