Mail

Mail is a tool within the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) My Account online service. It lets you review certain correspondence items from the CRA.

The information here will help you understand what you can do in Mail.

If you need more information or help with Mail, contact the CRA.

Access services

The “Access services” button directs you to services within the My Account portal. When you select this button, a drop-down menu will appear with these options:

• Submit an audit enquiry
• File a formal dispute
• Request relief of penalties and interest

Audit enquiries

Correspondence about audit enquiries are grouped by case number. 

Audit enquiry attachments

Attachments are represented by this icon: 

After you select an item and the preview pane opens, you will see the “Attachment” button. You can select this button to download, print, or save the attachment.

Reply to an audit enquiry

To respond to correspondence about an audit enquiry, select the “Reply” button in the message preview pane.  

Preferences

Preview pane

The preview pane is defaulted to the right side of the mail page. The preferences button will allow you to change where correspondence items are displayed: left, right, top, or bottom.

Message grouping

Mail items are defaulted to be grouped with the same topic, if the mail list contains audit enquires. If there are no audit enquiries, message grouping option is greyed out.

To choose how mail messages are organized, you can click the preferences button and select “Show mail individually”.

Archive

The Archived tab lets you separate correspondence items from the Mail tab. Within the archive tab you can view, sort, and filter correspondence items.

By selecting the archive icon in the mail tab, the correspondence item will be archived into the archive tab. Archived items can be moved back to the mail tab by selecting the icon with an arrow pointing left.

Flag

The flag icon next to each correspondence item lets you flag important correspondence. Flagged items will turn red. You can remove a flagged item at any time.

Search

By selecting the search icon, you can search within your correspondence list by using numbers, letters, or characters. 

Filter your correspondence

You can refine your correspondence list by using the filter options.

Correspondence type

Only certain correspondence items that the CRA sends you are eligible to be displayed in Mail. To see a specific type of correspondence on the mail page, you can choose one of the following options from the drop-down list:

• Instalments
• Information
• Letters
• Notices
• Preassessment review letters
• Processing review letters
• Statements
• Confirmations

Date range

The date range filter lets you view correspondence items that were issued within a specific time period. Eligible correspondence items issued to you since February 15, 2016, will be available for up to 10 years.

Service

The service filter is on the mail page only if you have mail items related to audit enquiries. Otherwise, you will not see it. This filter lets you view just your mail items that are related to audit enquiries.

Tax year

The tax year filter lets you see correspondence items related to a specific tax year.

Note

To remove a filter, use the “X” button next to the name of the filter. To clear all filters at once, use the “Clear filters” button.

Sort your correspondence

The most recent correspondence will always appear at the top of the list.

Date

The date field shows the date the CRA sent the correspondence to you. You can arrange your correspondence from newest to oldest or oldest to newest by selecting the “Date” sort option.

Status

To arrange your correspondence by status, select one of these options:

• Unread
• Read

Subject

If you have not read an item yet, the subject of the correspondence will be in bold. If you have read the item before, the subject will be in regular type.

You can sort your correspondence alphabetically by subject by selecting either “A to Z” or ”Z to A.”

Reference number

A reference number is a case, reference, or confirmation number assigned to your correspondence. Not all correspondence have a reference number.

You can sort your correspondence by reference number by selecting either “Ascending” or “Descending.”

Reset filters and sort options

To reset all filters and sort options, refresh the page.

View, print and save

Select the correspondence item you want to view, print, or save by clicking on an item in the correspondence list. 

Portable document format (PDF)

The “PDF” button on the preview pane lets you download a correspondence item in a printer-friendly format. 

Print or save

The “Print/Save” button lets you print the screen you are currently viewing.

Open

The “Open” button lets you view the full correspondence. 

Action button

An action button allows the user to link to a payment or submit document page directly from the mail page. An action button will appear within the preview pane for the correspondence if an action applies to that correspondence.

Proceed to pay button

The “Proceed to pay” button will let you pay an outstanding balance to the CRA. When selected, this button will direct you to the appropriate payments page to complete the steps for paying.

Submit document button

If you select the “Submit documents” button, the system will direct you to the Submit Documents page to complete more steps.