How long do I have to object to a CRA assessment?
The clock runs from the date on the notice. Not from when you opened it, not from when you filed, and not from when your adviser saw it. It is the most consequential date in the process. Inside the period the assessment is disputable on its merits. Outside it, you are asking for an extension of time or for discretionary relief instead, and both are harder and narrower than the objection would have been. So the first thing to do with a notice you disagree with is establish its date and diarise from there, before anything is worked out about the substance. The substance can be developed. The date cannot.
What happens if I missed the objection deadline?
The routes narrow but they are not all closed. An extension of time can be applied for, and separately there is discretionary relief over penalties and interest, which does not touch the tax. Neither is a substitute for having objected in time, and both are decided on grounds rather than on the merits of your tax position, so the case you would have made about the assessment may never be heard. Work out which of the two the facts support before writing anything, because the arguments are different. One is about why the deadline was missed. The other is about the circumstances behind the liability.
Do I have to pay the tax while objecting?
Collection treatment while an objection is outstanding is not the same for everyone. It is handled differently on large-corporation files than on ordinary ones, so the answer depends on which you are, and it is worth establishing at the start rather than discovering when a collection letter arrives. Plan for the cash position either way. An objection strong on the merits and unplanned on collection can still put a business under pressure for the period it takes to be considered, and interest continues to run on whatever is ultimately owed regardless of how the dispute ends.
What should a notice of objection actually contain?
The facts, the issues and the relief sought. Those three, set out so that someone reading only the objection can follow what happened, what is in dispute and what you want done about it. The temptation, especially with a deadline close, is to say little and fill it in later. Resist that further than you have to. The objection is the record the appeal will be built from, so a thin statement of facts is a thin foundation for everything that follows. Where information genuinely is not available yet, say what is missing and why, rather than leaving the gap silent.
Can I add new arguments later at the appeal stage?
Treat the objection as the document that sets the shape of the dispute, because the appeal is built from it. Practically, that means deciding early which issues you are actually running and stating them properly, rather than listing everything the assessment touched in the hope of narrowing later. Breadth is not free. Each issue raised needs facts behind it, and a file raising five that can support two reads worse than one raising two. Where an issue is genuinely uncertain at the objection stage, the honest course is to state it as an issue and say what the remaining question is.
Is calling the CRA the same as filing an objection?
No. A telephone conversation, however useful, does not dispute an assessment and does not stop the objection clock. Adjustments requested informally are a different process with a different effect, and time spent waiting for one can consume the period in which the assessment was disputable. If you disagree with an assessment and the date on it matters, protect the position first and have the conversation afterwards. Where you are not sure which route the facts call for, that is the question to settle first. Our fee for looking at a notice and the options on it is agreed in writing before we begin: +1 (416) 619-0068.
I work remotely from another country for a company back home — who taxes me?
Usually the country you are physically in, because employment income is generally sourced where the work is done, with your residence country taxing it as well if you are resident there and giving credit. Three things follow: your employer may acquire withholding and social security obligations where you sit, a treaty tie-breaker may be needed if both countries call you resident, and a short trip that becomes a long stay can cross a residence threshold nobody was watching. See remote workers and digital nomads.
What is a double tax treaty and what does it actually do?
It is an agreement between two countries that divides up the right to tax. Article by article it decides which country taxes employment income, dividends, interest, royalties, pensions, property and business profits — and where both may tax, it caps what the source country can withhold and tells the other to give credit. It also breaks residence ties and opens a government-to-government channel for disputes. What it never does is apply itself: a treaty position is claimed. See our treaty work.
