My CRA Account: How does it work?

How My Canada Revenue Agency Account works

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!

My CRA Account as an individual: how to access?

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

It also provides all the information you need about your benefits. You’ll find a payment schedule for benefits: a must-have for many budget planners.

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

How My Canada Revenue Agency Account works - Revenu Finance income tax

Register for my CRA Account

First of all, you need to register for a CRA account. A single registration gives you access to My Account (individuals), My Business Account and Represent a Client. Here are the steps described by the CRA (checked on October 26, 2026).

1. Gather the necessary information

Gather this information before you open the form: the registration session expires after 18 minutes of inactivity, and anything you entered is not saved. If you register with a CRA user ID and password or with a Sign-In Partner, you will need:

Your date of birth
Your social insurance number (or, if you don't have one, a temporary taxation number or an individual tax number)
Amounts from your most recent assessed tax return, filed in the last 2 years: use the amounts you originally entered, even if the return was reassessed
At least one multi-factor authentication option (see step 4)
For immediate access (optional): a mobile device with a camera and government-issued photo ID (Canadian driver's licence, Canadian passport, provincial or territorial photo ID card, permanent resident card, etc.)

2. Choose your sign-in option

The option you choose when you register is the one you will use every time you sign in. You can use a Sign-In Partner, meaning the credentials of your online banking (Desjardins, National Bank, TD, RBC, Tangerine, Wealthsimple and others), or create a CRA user ID and password. In Alberta and British Columbia, a provincial partner (Alberta.ca Account or BC Services Card) is also accepted. GCKey cannot be used to sign in to your CRA account.

3. Design your identification questions and answers

If you choose a CRA user ID and password, you will be asked to select 5 security questions, used to validate your identity later, for example if you forget your user ID or password. 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. Enrol in multi-factor authentication (mandatory)

Every time you sign in, you must enter a one-time passcode in addition to your password. When you register for the first time, the CRA prompts you to set up 2 multi-factor authentication options, including a backup, from the following: a third-party authenticator app (it generates a 6-digit passcode renewed every 30 seconds), a passcode grid or the telephone.

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 and this unique access code. If you have selected the telephone option, we will send you an SMS (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 on this document, which you will have kept carefully when you registered.

Once these steps are done, all that is left is to verify your identity to access every feature of your account.

5. Verify your identity

The CRA offers two methods. The document verification service gives you immediate access: you use a mobile device with a camera to capture government-issued photo ID. Otherwise, the CRA mails you a security code at the address on file within 10 business days (make sure your address is up to date).

If you choose the security code, sign in to your CRA account once the letter arrives: you will then be asked for the code. Be aware! The latter has an expiration date. Avoid starting over by entering it as soon as possible.

If your code has not arrived after 10 business days, or if it has expired, you can use the document verification service or request a new code.

To sign in, use the option you chose when you registered: it stays the same every time. Here are the two main login preferences:

Login by connection partner

The CRA lets you sign in with your online banking credentials through financial institutions that are Sign-In Partners. Desjardins, National Bank, TD, RBC, BMO, CIBC, Scotiabank, Tangerine and Wealthsimple are among them. Your banking information is not shared with the government, and your tax information is not shared with your financial institution.

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, enter your login and password to open the welcome page of your CRA account.

Login by user and password

This option lets you sign in with the CRA user ID and password you created when you registered.

You will then be asked for a passcode. You get it through the multi-factor authentication option you set up earlier (authenticator app, passcode grid or telephone), then enter it to sign in.

It’s also worth noting that ARC deploys accelerated login processes, such as cookies and personal computer designation.

My CRA Account as a business: how does it work?

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 export or import, My Account for Business allows them to monitor the details of their specific tax procedures.

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

You do not need a separate registration for your business: once you have a CRA account, sign in and add your business account from the welcome page. If you already have a business number (BN), the CRA asks for:

your 9-digit business number;
if your SIN is not yet linked to this BN, some information from the business's assessed return (without an assessed return, the link is only possible if the BN was registered in the last 28 days).

Since it is the same CRA account, you sign in the same way: with a Sign-In Partner or with your CRA user ID and password, followed by the one-time passcode. You then reach My Business Account by selecting "Business account" on the welcome page.

How My Canada Revenue Agency Account works