How to get your tax refund fast — even if you’ve never filed

Approximately 70 per cent of Canadians are expected to get a tax refund this year, and many have already received it. You might also be eligible for valuable benefits like the Canada Child Benefit and the GST/HST credit — but you have to file.

These tips will help you get organized to file quickly, and if you’re behind on filing your previous years, you can use this same approach to get caught up.

Go digital for all of it

Canadians who file electronically and who have direct deposit set up in their CRA My Account portal are expected to have their tax refund (if you’re getting one) deposited within about eight days. Paper filers without direct deposit, on the other hand, can expect to wait up to eight weeks for their refund.

Follow these quick steps to ensure you’re set up for digital tax success (btw, many Canadians have followed some of these steps, but not actually completed the full registration process — this checklist also works if you need to finish setting yourself up).

Register for CRA My Account. You can do this easily through one of the eligible sign-in partners that links to your online banking.

Set up your secure sign-in password and second authentication method, which helps prevent fraud.

Confirm your banking account information through this same CRA My Account portal (it is totally secure, and it’s necessary to get your refund deposited directly).

If you have an accountant or tax-filing service, you can add them as your authorized representative.

Some of the other benefits of the CRA My Account portal: you can see your RRSP and TFSA room (though the TFSA room is, unfortunately, an estimate — you’ll need to stay on top of this yourself), and your Notice of Assessment is posted here, as are many of your T-based tax slips like T4s. You can track the progress of your tax files in this portal.

There’s even an area in the portal that flags if you have uncashed cheques from the CRA. Remarkably, the CRA is sitting on more than $1.4 billion dollars of uncashed cheques due to people who haven’t bothered to cash them.

Worried about fraud? Rest assured that the CRA will never ask you to share personal information by way of email, mail, phone or text. They will always direct you to sign into your account to receive and/or update important information from within your portal.

Consult a pro if you just don’t know

If you have a basic tax situation, you can file very easily and affordably through an online DIY tool like TurboTax or UFile. And, when I say basic, I specifically mean you have one or two sources of T4’d income and official receipts for things like RRSP contributions, and you didn’t experience any major life changes during the 2022 year.

If, however, your money situation was more complex last year, you should hire a tax professional. When I say “complex,” I mean having multiple streams of income, any kind of self-employment income, eligible writeoffs, or if you went through a major life change like a divorce. When in doubt, hire a pro. Yes, it costs more, but you’ll have peace of mind that it’s being done correctly, and you will gain precious time back by not having to do it yourself.

The CRA has also set up free tax clinics to help Canadians file their taxes.

Organize your paperwork in a secure cloud

Make a folder for each year you need to file. Then, scan (or snap a pic) and upload your documents. I recommend you label each file clearly. This paperwork part is super boring and takes a while, but it will save time with the filing process. The other benefit of being organized is that if the CRA comes knocking for backup documentation, you’ll have it ready.

If you happen to owe money, make a plan

Knowing what amount you owe is better than not filing, and not knowing. When you know, you can make a plan and take control of the situation. It might mean dipping into savings to pay the bill, or calling the CRA to negotiate a payment plan.

If you get a refund, take a balanced approach with the money. Pay off pesky high-interest debt, put some toward your emergency fund and use a small portion for something fun.

This article was originally published in The Star. Lesley-Anne Scorgie is a Toronto-based personal finance columnist and a freelance contributing columnist for the Star.