Are you an individual or a company in Canada? Chances are you already know about My CRA Account: a tool designed to make managing your tax affairs easy. However, how do you take advantage of its benefits? How does My CRA Account work specifically? This is what we will see together in the following few lines!

First, it’s worth mentioning that My CRA Account is more than helpful for you. Think of it as a secure online file that includes all your tax information: from your tax returns to your notices of assessment.

It also provides all the information you need about your benefits. You will find a payment schedule for benefits: a must for many in their budget planning.

But still, how does it work? The whole thing is pretty simple. Here are the main elements to consider to make the best use of it.

First of all, you need to register for My CRA Account. Since this is a highly secure platform, specific steps and information are required to get there. To make it easier for you, follow these few steps.

1. Gather the necessary information

Don’t worry. What is required of you is usually within reach of everyone! However, without this information, it will be difficult for you to register. For this reason, we suggest that you repatriate these documents before opening the My CRA Account registration form:

• Your social insurance number
• A recent income tax return (you will be asked for the amount on a specific line)

2. Create a username and password

During the process, you will be asked to create a login and a password. Here, be sure to write this information down somewhere. They will be helpful for your next steps.

3. Design your identification questions and answers

In this step, you will be asked to select questions that may be asked of you in the future for identification purposes. Our best advice: create questions that will be obvious to you but hard for others to guess. For example: “What hospital was I born in, “The street name of the first house I lived in, “The last name of my childhood friend,” etc.

4. Registration for multi-factor authentication required

This is an additional security measure to access My Account. First, you must choose between two options, either authentication by phone or access code grid. Details will be shared with you as you move through the process.

Your choice of option will allow you to log in with a unique access code each time you log in to My CRA Account. Specifically, you will need to enter your username and password, as well as this unique access code. If you select the phone option, you will be sent a text message (cellular) or an automated voice message (landline).

However, if you have selected the “access code grid” option, you will be asked for one of the codes found on this document that you kept carefully when you registered.

Once you have completed these four steps, you will have limited access to My CRA Account for individuals. You will receive your CRA security code within ten business days.

5. Enter your CRA security code

As mentioned above, you will receive a security code from the CRA. The method of transmission remains the mail (Canada Post).

First, you will need to log in with your username and password. Just continue, and you will be asked for your security code. Be aware! The latter has an expiration date. Avoid starting over by entering it as soon as possible.

Next, you will be prompted to log in to My CRA Account: a process that also requires some simple steps.

First, after entering the security code, click the My Account button. You will then have to choose between these two login preferences:

Login by connection partner

CRA offers a highly secure My Account connection through financial institutions (connection partners). TD, Desjardins, RBC National Bank: this is some examples of partners through which to access My Account.

For example, if you are a Desjardins client, you can click the Desjardins icon in the list of available connection partners. Your browser will always open an AccèsD connection page, identical to the one you use for your online transactions. At this point, you will enter your username and password to open the My Account dashboard.

Login by user and password

This option allows you to log in with the credentials you created when you opened My Account. Generally, you will be asked to go through a Captcha process for security purposes.

You will then be asked for an access code. Depending on what you selected as an option earlier (phone or access code grid), you will need to enter this code to log in.

Also, it is interesting to know that the CRA deploys expedited login processes, such as cookies and personal computer designation.

Ultimately, My Business Account provides access to provincial and federal tax information for business owners. The platform adapts to the specific needs of the company. For example, if they are exporting or importing, My Business Account allows them to monitor the details of their specific tax processes.

Here are some of the services the CRA offers to businesses on My Account:

• Information Statement
• Management of authorized representatives
• Notification preference management
• Filing of GST/QST returns
• Calculating Instalment Payments

Usually, My Business Account works very similarly to My Personal Account. However, there are more steps the company must take to register for this service. One of them: enter information about your company, such as:

• The legal name of the company
• The company number
• Date of birth, social insurance number and postal code of owners
• The 9-digit primary identifier of the company number assigned when it was registered.

The same options are valid for logging in: via a login partner or with a user, a password and a verification code.