How to Authorize or Remove a CRA Representative for Your Personal Tax Account

Who can you authorize to deal with the CRA?

The Canada Revenue Agency allows you to authorize another person, group or business to represent you for tax matters. A representative can be an accountant, bookkeeper, spouse or common-law partner, family member, friend, lawyer or another person you trust.

This means that your spouse does not automatically have authority to deal with the CRA for your personal tax account simply because you are married or common-law partners. If your spouse calls the CRA on your behalf, you must either be present to give consent during the call or your spouse must already be authorized to act for you.

Do not give a representative your personal CRA sign-in credentials. The CRA provides its representative authorization system so representatives can use their own access through Represent a Client.

Is an authorized representative the same as a legal representative?

No. An authorized representative is someone you authorize to deal with the CRA within the access you grant. A legal representative is appointed by a legal document, and the scope of that person's authority is defined by the legal document.

The CRA identifies examples of legal representatives including a court-appointed guardian, trustee or committee, a person named under a power of attorney, and a person named in a representation agreement.

A legal representative who needs online access to an individual's CRA tax information must register for Represent a Client and obtain a RepID before submitting the required legal documents and identification information to the CRA.

What access can you give a representative?

For an individual's tax information, CRA representative services distinguish between two standard authorization levels:

• Level 1 allows the representative to view information.
• Level 2 allows the representative to view information and make certain changes.

The services a representative can perform depend on the authorization level. Choose the level that matches what you actually want the person to do.

Legal representatives are a separate category because their authority comes from the applicable legal document.

How do you add an authorized representative in CRA My Account?

For a personal tax account, the CRA describes My Account as the fastest way to give authorization. You must already be registered for a CRA account.

1. Sign in to your CRA account.
2. On the Welcome page, select your Individual account to access My Account.
3. Select Profile from the left-side menu.
4. Find Authorized representative(s) and select Add.
5. Read the information under Before you begin and select Start.
6. Enter and confirm the representative information requested by the CRA.

The representative can give you the appropriate Represent a Client identifier. Depending on how the representative is registered, this can be a RepID, GroupID or a business number registered with Represent a Client.

What if the representative sends you an authorization request?

A representative registered with Represent a Client can initiate the authorization request instead. They sign in to their CRA account, access their Representative account and submit the request through Represent a Client.

For an individual client, the representative can use a process where you confirm the request in My Account or, when applicable, provide tax information from a qualifying previous notice of assessment.

Confirming the request in My Account

If the representative selects the option for you to confirm the request in My Account, you may need to confirm or deny it within 10 business days. If you still want to authorize the representative after the confirmation period expires, the CRA says the representative must submit a new request.

1. Sign in to your CRA account.
2. Select your Individual account.
3. Select Profile.
4. Under Authorized representative(s), select Confirm pending authorizations.
5. Select the representative shown under Pending representative authorizations.
6. Review the request and confirm or deny it.

Review the identity of the representative and the requested access before approving the request.

Using tax information from a previous notice of assessment

For an individual account, the CRA also provides an alternative process. You provide your representative with information from a notice of assessment associated with a return processed at least six months ago. The representative supplies that information when submitting the initial authorization request.

You must sign the certification page before the representative submits it through Represent a Client. The representative submits the signed certification page electronically. The CRA says not to mail or fax the certification page because those copies will not be processed or returned.

The CRA may still contact you or your legal representative to verify the request. For this alternative process, the CRA states that the representative's authorization request will generally be processed instantly.

What if you cannot use My Account or provide tax information?

If you cannot register for a CRA account or provide the required tax information, the CRA says the representative may be prompted to obtain signed consent from you and submit it as part of the authorization request in Represent a Client. The CRA may still contact you by phone to verify the request.

What is Form AUT-01 used for?

Form AUT-01, Authorize a Representative for Offline Access, is used when you want a representative to deal with the CRA through offline channels such as phone, mail, fax or in person.

A separate authorization form must be completed and signed for each representative. The form must be sent to the appropriate CRA tax centre listed on the form within six months of the date it is signed.

A key distinction is that AUT-01 does not give the representative online access to your CRA information. A representative who needs online access uses Represent a Client and the CRA's online authorization process.

Do you use Form RC59 to authorize a CRA representative?

If you are searching for RC59 to authorize a representative, use the CRA's current representative authorization process instead. For a personal tax account, authorization can be initiated through My Account or Represent a Client. For offline-only access, the current CRA form is AUT-01, Authorize a Representative for Offline Access.

This distinction is important when following older instructions that refer to representative authorization forms by a different form number.

Can your spouse call the CRA on your behalf?

Yes, but marriage or common-law status by itself does not give your spouse access to your tax information. If someone calls the CRA on your behalf, the CRA states that you must be present on the call to give consent or the person must be authorized to call on your behalf.

If your spouse needs continuing access rather than permission for a single call, you can authorize them as your representative through the applicable CRA authorization process.

If the reason for contacting the CRA is a marriage, separation, divorce or common-law status change, see how to report a marital status change to the CRA.

How do you check who is authorized on your CRA account?

You can manage representatives through the Authorized representative(s) area of your CRA account. Review the people, groups or businesses that currently have authorization and remove access that is no longer required.

Authorization should be granted only to someone you trust and only at the level needed for the work they are performing.

How do you remove a CRA representative?

The CRA allows taxpayers to cancel representatives through My Account. Representatives can also cancel their own authorization through Represent a Client.

For cancellation by form, the CRA provides Form AUT-01X, Cancel Authorization for a Representative, which can be sent to the appropriate tax centre.

If the representative was helping with a specific CRA matter that has now ended, review whether the authorization is still necessary. For example, related CRA tasks may include changing a previously filed tax return, filing an objection to a CRA assessment or requesting taxpayer relief from penalties or interest.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Do not assume a spouse or family member automatically has authority to access your CRA information.
• Do not share your personal CRA username, password or other sign-in credentials with a representative.
• Check whether the representative needs Level 1 or Level 2 access before granting authorization.
• If a pending request requires confirmation in My Account, act within the CRA's 10-business-day confirmation period.
• Do not use AUT-01 when the representative needs online access; it is for offline access.
• If submitting AUT-01, send the signed form to the appropriate CRA tax centre within six months of the date it was signed.
• Review your authorized representatives and cancel access when it is no longer required.

What happens after you authorize a representative?

Once authorization is active, the representative can deal with the CRA within the scope and authorization level you approved. Representatives who have online authorization access client information through Represent a Client using their own CRA representative access.

You remain responsible for your tax affairs and can continue using your own CRA account. Authorization does not require you to give the representative your own sign-in credentials.

Business accounts have different authorization levels and rules from personal tax accounts. This procedure focuses on authorization for an individual's personal tax account.