Tax season officially launches on Monday, which is the first day you will be able to file your 2025

tax return online. Last tax-filing season , the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) received more than 33 million tax returns, 93 per cent of which were filed online. The agency issued over 19 million refunds, for an average amount of $2,000, 79 per cent of which were issued by direct deposit. Currently, there are more than 28 million individuals signed up for direct deposit.

So, to get you all set to file your 2025 returns, here are some handy tips to get you started.

Important dates

Filing opens on Monday, but it’s best to make sure you have all your tax slips, some of which may not be mailed out until March, before submitting your return. If you have a CRA account, you can also get copies of your tax slips there once the CRA processes them.

If you file online, the CRA’s published service standard is to issue your notice of assessment within two weeks of receiving your return. If you choose to file on paper, the CRA’s service standard is to issue your notice of assessment within 12 weeks of receiving your return.

To file online, you’ll need your NETFILE access code . If you’ve misplaced it, you can find it more easily in your CRA account this year. Once you sign in, select “tax returns” to view your eight-character access code (letters and numbers). You’ll need this code when

filing your return electronically with tax software. The next important date is the registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) contribution deadline, which falls on March 2 this year. This means you have just over a week left to make an RRSP contribution that would entitle you to claim a deduction on your 2025 tax return.

The filing deadline for most individuals to file their tax return is April 30. This is also the deadline to pay any taxes owing for 2025 to avoid non-deductible arrears interest, which is compounded daily at the current prescribed rate of seven per cent for overdue taxes.

If you, your spouse or your common-law partner earned self-employment income in 2025, you have until June 15 to file. But be forewarned that if you owe money, you will still need to pay by April 30 to avoid being charged arrears interest.

What’s new on the 2025 return?

Not much, but a few things have changed for 2025. First, as of July 1, 2025, the lowest marginal individual income tax rate was reduced to 14 per cent from 15 per cent. But because this change took effect halfway through the year, the full-year lowest marginal individual income tax rate for 2025 was 14.5 per cent. You’ll notice this is also the 2025 rate that applies to most non-refundable

tax credits . Because the value of the non-refundable tax credits is now worth less than it was previously, the government also introduced a new

top-up tax credit to effectively maintain a 15 per cent rate for certain non-refundable tax credits claimed on amounts over the first income tax bracket threshold of $57,375 for 2025. This will

only affect taxpayers with extraordinarily high credits, such as medical expenses or tuition.

Also, the list of eligible expenses for the disability supports deduction has been expanded. You can see the full list of eligible expenses

online . Starting this year, you will be able to view your digital notice of assessment (NOA) immediately in CRA’s My Account after the CRA receives and processes your tax return. You will no longer be able to view it in your tax software as in prior years.

Reaching the CRA

The CRA receives between 25 million and 32 million calls annually, with approximately 16 million to 17 million calls from unique callers. In recent years, the CRA has been

struggling with service levels and accuracy, but things appear to be looking up. The agency’s goal is to answer an average of 70 per cent of unique callers during tax season, according to a February release. CRA contact centres received more than 12 million calls during last year’s tax season, which works out to approximately 200,000 calls each weekday. This explains why, at peak times, call volumes across the country exceeded the CRA’s ability to answer each call.

To provide better service this tax season, the CRA has increased the number of service representatives in its contact centres, hiring or rehiring approximately 1,700 contact centre employees, bringing the total to about 4,500.

The agency will also be expanding its individual tax and benefit contact centre hours to temporarily include Saturday service during peak filing periods (March 21 to May 2, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern time).

The accuracy of the CRA responses is also improving. The CRA reviewed more than 100,000 call recordings last year and said contact centre service representatives provided accurate information 92 per cent of the time and professional service 96 per cent of the time.

Need help filing?

If you need help filing your 2025 personal tax return, you may be able to access a

free tax clinic run through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) and the Income Tax Assistance – Volunteer Program (ITAVP) in Quebec.

Community organizations host free tax clinics where volunteers complete tax returns for individuals with a modest income and a simple tax situation. In 2025, nearly 1.1 million returns were filed through free tax clinics.

If you have a lower income and a simple tax situation, you may be able to use

SimpleFile services (digital or by phone) to file your taxes. If you didn’t receive an invitation, you may still be able to access SimpleFile Digital. Check out the CRA’s new

eligibility questionnaire . The SimpleFile service opens on March 9. Jamie Golombek, FCPA, FCA, CFP, CLU, TEP, is the managing director, Tax Estate Planning with CIBC Private Wealth in Toronto. Jamie.Golombek@cibc.com

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