Keep CRA Informed of Email Address Changes

An interesting change in the most recent income tax bill (C-47) is the introduction of new subsection 244(14.1) of the Income Tax Act, which authorizes electronic communications of a notice or other communication to a person or partnership.  Bill C-47  also changes the word "mailed" to "sent" in many areas of the Income Tax Act. This will accommodate the electronic transmission of notices both to and from CRA. Whatís interesting is that a notice or other communication will be presumed to be sent by the Minister and received by you at the electronic address you have most recently provided on the date before the message.

This has all kinds of ramifications for significant compliance dates, appeal periods, and so on. Once an email address is given to CRA it must be kept up to date to avoid unintended and expensive consequences.  This new section as no effective date so one can assume that it will become effective when Bill C-47 is passed.  The bill is currently in first reading in the House of Commons.

While the contents of Notices of Assessment, etc. will not be included in an email message for security reasons, the email message will serve as notification that the Notice of Assessment (or other notice) is available online in the person or partnership's secure electronic account.  Presumably the CRA will use the individual's "My Account" or "My Business Account" for posting such notices