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CRA Audit Representation

CRA Audit Representation for Calgary Individuals and Corporations

If the CRA has opened a review, an audit, or issued a reassessment, how you respond in the first few weeks shapes the outcome. This guide covers what each type of CRA contact actually means, the deadlines that matter, and what to do first.

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Who this is for

Not every CRA letter means the same thing — but every one has a clock attached.

Calgary individuals and corporations end up in front of the CRA for all kinds of reasons: a rental property claim that drew a closer look, a reorganization that got reassessed years later, a corporate expense the CRA disagrees with, or years of unfiled returns finally catching up. The letter that starts the process can look almost identical whether it's a routine check or the opening of a full audit, and what's actually being asked of you — and by when — depends on which one you've received.

We provide administrative representation before the CRA: managing correspondence, preparing responses, and handling objections through CRA's internal process. This is not legal representation, and it doesn't extend to Tax Court — more on that distinction below.

Types of CRA Contact

A review letter, a desk audit, and a full audit are not the same thing.

A processing review is the narrowest: the CRA is checking specific items on your return against the slips or information it already has on file. It typically arrives shortly after your notice of assessment and comes with a response deadline attached.

A desk audit is broader. The CRA reviews one or more full tax years by correspondence, examining areas like rental income, self-employment expenses, or shareholder benefits in more depth, and may go back and forth over several rounds before it's resolved.

A full audit is the most involved. For a corporation, or an individual with more complex affairs, a CRA auditor may request direct access to your books and records, conduct interviews, and review a corporation's T2 filings alongside an owner-manager's personal return at the same time. How a matter is handled at each stage genuinely affects the outcome — which is exactly why it's worth having someone experienced managing the response rather than navigating it letter by letter.

Deadlines

Once a Notice of Reassessment arrives, the clock is already running.

A Notice of Reassessment is the CRA's formal recalculation of the tax you owe — it can follow an audit, or arrive as an automated adjustment with no audit involved at all. Either way, it starts a hard deadline: you have 90 days from the date on the notice to file a Notice of Objection with CRA's Appeals Division if you disagree with it. Miss that window and your options narrow considerably from there.

Filing an objection puts the matter in front of an Appeals officer who wasn't involved in the original audit, before anything could ever reach Tax Court. Interest continues to accrue on any disputed balance while it's under review, so the 90 days is worth acting on immediately, not something to sit with.

Unfiled Returns

If you haven't filed, coming forward first changes your options.

The CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program lets taxpayers with unfiled returns, unreported income, or errors on past filings come forward before the CRA contacts them about that specific matter — potentially reducing or eliminating the penalties, and part of the interest, that would otherwise apply. The disclosure has to actually be voluntary: once CRA has already opened an inquiry into the issue you're disclosing, the program is generally no longer available for it.

The relief available depends heavily on the specific facts of your situation, which is why it's worth having it properly assessed rather than assuming the door is open or closed.

First 48 Hours

What you do in the first two days shapes everything that follows.

The first two days after a CRA letter arrives matter more than people expect. There's always a deadline attached, it's easy to misjudge what a letter is actually asking for, and how you respond in those first conversations can shape how the rest of the process goes.

The most useful thing you can do in those first 48 hours is talk to someone before you respond — before sending anything to CRA, and before providing any verbal explanation over the phone. We handle exactly this kind of triage: reading what's actually being requested, confirming the real deadline, and managing the response from there, so you're not navigating it alone or guessing at what's safe to say.

Common questions

CRA audits and reassessments, answered directly.

Not necessarily. Most letters like this are a processing review — a routine check of one specific item on your return against the information CRA already has on file. It's a different, and typically less serious, process than a desk or full audit. Every CRA letter comes with a response deadline attached, though, so it's worth confirming which kind of letter you've received and what it's actually asking for before deciding how to respond.
Possibly. The CRA can grant an extension beyond the standard 90-day window in certain circumstances, but it's a discretionary application rather than a guarantee, and the requirements are specific enough that it shouldn't be assumed to apply without a proper look at your situation. It's exactly why we recommend confirming the deadline the day a Notice of Reassessment arrives, rather than after it's already passed.
Generally, once CRA has contacted you about a specific matter, that door closes for that particular issue — the program requires the disclosure to be genuinely voluntary, meaning you come forward before CRA takes enforcement action on it. But correspondence about one tax year or one issue doesn't automatically disqualify you from disclosing something unrelated. Whether you still qualify depends on exactly what CRA's letter covered, which is worth confirming before assuming either way.
We provide administrative representation before the CRA — handling reviews, audits, and Notices of Objection through CRA's Appeals Division — which resolves the large majority of matters that start with a reassessment. If a dispute can't be resolved at that stage and needs to proceed to the Tax Court of Canada, that's a legal proceeding requiring a lawyer, not a CPA. When a file reaches that point, we coordinate directly with trusted tax litigation counsel so nothing gets lost in the handoff, but we don't appear in court ourselves.

If you're already facing a CRA deadline, don't wait to find out your options.

A short call is enough to identify exactly what the CRA is asking for, how much time you actually have, and what needs to happen next — before that deadline passes.

Talk to us about your CRA matter