While no two tax returns filed with the Canada Revenue Agency are identical, all such tax returns have one thing in common. Once those tax returns are filed, the CRA will review the income amounts reported and the tax deduction and credit claims made, and issue a Notice of Assessment (NOA) outlining its conclusions with respect to the taxpayer’s tax situation for the year.
At first glance, it might seem that the financial pressures experienced by Canadian families would have eased over the last year or so. The spike in interest rates which started in early 2022 has abated, with the Bank of Canada cutting its benchmark rate several times since mid-2023. As well, the rate of inflation, which had reached 6.8% in late 2022, began moderating during 2023 and now (as of March 2025) stands at 2.3%. It would seem, then, that both the cost of daily life (as reflected in the rate of inflation) and the cost of debt servicing (as reflected in the Bank’s benchmark interest rate) would have both become more manageable in recent months.
It’s likely that very few Canadians view completing and filing the annual tax return as anything other than an unpleasant chore to be endured, with a sigh of relief once it’s finally done. The goal, for both the taxpayer and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), is for the return to then be “assessed as filed”, meaning that the CRA agrees with the income information provided, the deductions and credits claimed, and the final overall tax result obtained by the taxpayer. And, while the best-case scenario is for the taxpayer to have filed a return that is correct and complete and filed on time, that’s a result which can be derailed in any number of ways.
