500,000 Canadians Selected to Join Automatic Tax Filing Pilot Program
Ottawa is widening its automatic tax filing services to more than 500,000 lower-income Canadians as part of a nationwide pilot program it initiated earlier this year.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) invited over half a million eligible Canadians in July to file their 2023 tax returns by phone, online, or by mail using SimpleFile services, as mentioned in a press release.
The national program, part of the 2024 federal budget, allows users to complete tax returns in just 10 minutes, according to the CRA.
“This automatic tax filing national pilot targets individuals who have never filed a tax return or who have a gap in their filing history,” the CRA stated in the July 30 press release. “Tax filing by any method helps lower-income individuals access the benefit and credit payments they’re entitled to.”
In February, the CRA invited over 1.5 million lower or fixed income individuals to utilize SimpleFile by Phone, a free and user-friendly service as described in a source. To date, over 90 percent of those invited have filed their tax return using the system.
Formerly known as File My Return, the automated service utilizes existing information with the CRA along with user-provided answers to auto-file and process tax returns.
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Combining all invitations, over two million Canadians are now eligible for the program.
How to File Your Taxes
The CRA has expanded the program to offer digital and paper options in addition to phone filing.
Users need to confirm specific personal details and respond to a brief set of questions when using the phone or digital service.
Phone and digital users with a PIN in My Account will receive income estimates and potential refunds at the end of the call.
If no PIN is set up, an assessment notice will be sent via mail or to the individual’s CRA account after processing.
SimpleFile phone and digital services are available 21 hours a day, from 6 a.m. to 3 a.m. EST, seven days a week.
Project Costs
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) estimated in a report that Ottawa could potentially pay out over $8.5 billion in unclaimed benefits to lower-income individuals in the first five years of the automatic filing project.
The calculation includes benefits like Canada Child Benefit, Canada Workers Benefit, and Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax credit, all requiring tax return submission to access.
The PBO stated the total administrative cost for implementing and running the automatic tax filing system is around $57 million in 2024-25 and $65 million in 2028-29.
