PROTECTING YOUR TAX INFORMATION: Comments from CRA
CRA released a Tax Tip (Protecting your personal information) on August 6, 2019 which provided various suggestions to safeguard tax information, including the following:
- Signing up for My Account or My Business Account and registering for email notifications. Notifications will be sent when paper mail is returned to CRA, or when certain other changes are made on one’s account.
- Using CRA protocols to authenticate a caller’s identity. An option is being introduced to set a unique Personal Identification Number which must be provided before a call centre agent can access the individual’s accounts.
- Verifying a purported CRA caller by requesting their badge number and calling the individual or business enquiries line for confirmation.
The Tip also provides guidance on steps individuals who may be victims of identity theft should take, including contacting CRA to request enhanced security measures be placed on their accounts.
ACTION ITEM: Review the above suggestions and adopt those that are appropriate.
The preceding information is for educational purposes only. As it is impossible to include all situations, circumstances and exceptions in a newsletter such as this, a further review should be done by a qualified professional.
No individual or organization involved in either the preparation or distribution of this letter accepts any contractual, tortious, or any other form of liability for its contents or for any consequences arising from its use.