CRA Notices Guide: Understanding What To Do When You Receive One

Receiving a letter from the Canada Revenue Agency can be stressful, especially if you don’t immediately understand what it means. This guide explains the most common types of CRA notices, what each one means, and when you should get professional help. Our tax accountants at Torontax help Toronto clients respond to CRA correspondence correctly and on time.

Notice of Assessment (NOA)

Of all the CRA notices you might receive, a Notice of Assessment is the most common: it’s the CRA’s summary of your tax return after it has been processed — it’s not a bill or a problem, it’s simply confirmation of how your return was assessed, including your refund or balance owing, and your RRSP contribution room for the following year.

As of February 2026, the CRA issues most Notices of Assessment through its online CRA portals as soon as your return is processed; if you don’t have a CRA account or have chosen paper mail, it will still be mailed to you. Keep every NOA — you’ll need it to confirm your RRSP room and to support future loan or mortgage applications.

Notice of Reassessment (NOR)

A Notice of Reassessment is another one of the CRA notices worth understanding — it’s issued only if the CRA makes changes to a return it already assessed — for example, after reviewing supporting documents you submitted, correcting an error, or auditing a specific claim. The NOR outlines what changed and why. For corporations, the CRA can generally reassess a T2 return within three years of the original notice of assessment if the corporation was a Canadian-controlled private corporation at year-end, or within four years otherwise. If you disagree with a reassessment, you have the right to file a formal Notice of Objection within 90 days.

Request for Information or Supporting Documents

This is one of the most common CRA notices taxpayers receive: the CRA regularly sends letters requesting supporting documentation for specific claims on your return — a common one asks for receipts supporting medical expenses, donations, or business expense claims. These requests are not necessarily a sign of a full audit; responding promptly and completely with organized documentation is usually enough to resolve them without escalation.

Demand to File

If the CRA believes you should have filed a return and hasn’t received one, it can issue a formal Demand to File. Ignoring this CRA notice is far more serious than ignoring a standard reminder — the CRA can proceed to arbitrarily assess your income (usually unfavourably) and apply penalties if you don’t respond.

Audit Notification

An audit notice, one of the more serious CRA notices you can receive, means the CRA is conducting a more detailed review of specific items or your full return, and will typically request extensive documentation over a set period. Having an accountant respond on your behalf and organize your supporting records significantly reduces the stress and risk of an unfavourable outcome.

What To Do When You Receive CRA Notices

Read the notice carefully to identify exactly what type of CRA notice it is and what deadline (if any) applies — objection deadlines and document submission deadlines are strict and generally not extended informally. Don’t ignore any CRA letter, even one that looks routine, since deadlines for objecting or responding are often as short as 30 to 90 days. If anything is unclear or you disagree with an assessment, get professional help before responding rather than after a deadline has passed.

How Long Should You Keep CRA Notices?

The CRA recommends keeping every CRA notice you receive, along with your supporting tax records, for at least six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. This applies to Notices of Assessment, Notices of Reassessment, and any correspondence confirming a resolved issue. If the CRA ever reopens a file or you need to support a loan, mortgage, or immigration application, having your CRA notices organized and accessible saves significant time. We recommend keeping both digital and paper copies, since CRA My Account only stores recent notices online.

Get Help Responding to a CRA Notice

If you’ve received any of these CRA notices and aren’t sure how to respond, our team at Torontax reviews the notice, explains exactly what it means, and handles the response — including formal objections — on your behalf. We serve clients across Toronto, Scarborough, Mississauga, North York, Etobicoke, Brampton, Markham, Vaughan, and Richmond Hill through our personal tax and corporate tax services.

Contact us at (437) 410-7999 or use our remote tax filing service. For official information on notices of assessment, visit Canada.ca — Notices of assessment.

Last updated: September 10, 2026 – Verified against official CRA sources.