What to look for in CRA My Account once a year

Most retirees deal with the Canada Revenue Agency once a year, at tax time, and then try not to think about it. The CRA’s online service, My Account, makes that annual contact much easier, and a short look at it each year catches the small problems that otherwise turn into letters, delays or missed payments.

This guide sets out what is worth looking at, in what order, and how to tell the real thing from the imitations.

Why once a year is enough

For a retired household, the information in My Account changes on a predictable rhythm. Tax slips for the previous year appear early in the year. The return is filed and assessed in spring. Benefits based on that return are recalculated for July. A single sitting in the spring, after the notice of assessment arrives, covers almost everything. A second, quicker look in the autumn confirms that the July and October benefit payments arrived as expected.

Getting in, safely

The CRA offers several ways to sign in: a CRA user ID and password, a Sign-In Partner (signing in through your online banking credentials, without the bank seeing your tax information), or a provincial partner in British Columbia and Alberta. All of them start from the CRA’s own page on canada.ca.

The safest habit is to type canada.ca into the browser yourself and navigate from there, rather than following a link in an email or a text. The CRA does not need you to arrive from a message, and a sign-in page reached through a link is exactly what most tax scams are built around.

Slips: the pension paperwork in one place

With full access, My Account lists tax information slips including the T4A(P) for CPP, the T4A(OAS) for Old Age Security, and slips such as the T4RIF and T4RSP for registered savings. Service Canada also makes the CPP and OAS slips available in My Service Canada Account from early February, with paper copies mailed by the end of February.

Two quick checks are worth doing. First, that every slip you expect is there, including slips for any small pension or annuity. Second, that the tax deducted on the CPP and OAS slips matches what you asked for. Voluntary withholding is one of the main reasons a pension deposit looks different from the published increase, as our lead article on why your CPP payment may look different this year explains.

The notice of assessment, read properly

The notice of assessment is available in My Account even with limited access. Most people look only at the balance. Three other things are worth a glance:

• Net income (line 23600). This single figure drives OAS recovery, GIS, the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, provincial programs and, in Ontario, applications to reduce long-term care charges.
• Any changes the CRA made. The notice explains adjustments to what was filed.
• Credits claimed between spouses. If one partner had unused credits, check whether they were transferred; see the senior tax credits one spouse can hand to the other.

Benefits and credits

The benefits and credits overview shows what the CRA is paying you and when. Since July 2026 the quarterly payment that used to be the GST/HST credit appears as the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, alongside any related provincial programs the CRA administers. Our article on why the GST/HST credit still arrives four times a year covers the change.

This is also where a disability tax credit decision shows, for those who have applied; see the disability tax credit and why it opens more than one door.

Direct deposit and address

My Account lets you start, update or stop direct deposit for CRA payments, and update your mailing address and mail preferences. Remember that this covers CRA payments only. CPP and OAS are paid by Service Canada, which keeps its own banking record; changing it is explained in what to do when your bank account changes but your CPP doesn’t know yet.

The ten-minute checklist

The last line matters for families. A son or daughter helping a parent can be authorized as a representative; it is equally important to remove an authorization that is no longer wanted. Our piece on why a power of attorney doesn’t automatically cover federal benefits explains the CRA’s rules.

The scams that imitate it

Tax-time scams rely on the fact that most people hear from the CRA rarely. The CRA lists what it will not do:

If in doubt, hang up or close the message, sign in to My Account yourself, and check whether anything is actually outstanding. A website such as this one cannot see your account and will never ask to.

Who this matters for

• Every retiree who files a return, and especially those receiving income-tested benefits.
• Couples, who should look at both partners’ accounts together once a year.
• Adult children helping a parent, who should do so through a proper authorization rather than the parent’s own password.

The habit worth keeping

CRA My Account is the one place where the year’s slips, the assessment, the benefit payments and the bank details sit side by side. Ten minutes in spring, and a glance in autumn, are enough to keep them in order, and the only safe way in is the one you type yourself.