As we get deeper into tax season, the Canada Revenue Agency wants you to be on the lookout for a scam. The CRA says emails have been going around letting taxpayers know they’re entitled to a refund of a specific amount, or their tax assessment has been verified and they’re eligible to get a refund. These are not CRA emails and should be reported.
To better equip taxpayers to identify possible scams, the following guidelines should be used
The CRA does not do the following:
- The CRA never requests, by email, personal information of any kind from a taxpayer.
- The CRA will never request information from a taxpayer pertaining to a passport, health card, or driver’s license.
- The CRA will not divulge taxpayer information to another person unless formal authorization is provided by the taxpayer.
- The CRA will not leave any personal information on an answering machine.
When in doubt, ask yourself the following:
- Am I expecting additional money from the CRA?
- Does this sound too good to be true?
- Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
- Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
- How did the requester get my email address?
- Am I confident I know who is asking for the information?
Anyone who receives a suspicious communication should immediately report it to info@antifraudcentre.ca or to the institution that the communication appears to be from.
