8 Ways To Get Answers To Your 2022 Tax Questions Without Being On Hold For Hours
In case you don't feel like listening to the same hold music for over an hour.
With the confusion of tax season in Canada really starting to set in, you might soon find yourself with some minor — or major — questions.
Luckily, to avoid you being on hold for hours, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has a bunch lot of online resources to help answer nearly all of your tax questions and most of it is just a click away. And that sounds way better than listening to the same hold music for five hours.
So, before you pick up the phone for tax help in Canada, check these out.
Charlie the chatbot
If you've got a quick and fairly simple tax question, the CRA's virtual AI assistant Charlie might be able to help you.
The agency mentions that the AI is still learning, but it can still hopefully get you the info you need.
Check online
The CRA site is now, more than ever, full of resources and information to help answer your burning tax time questions.
Whether it be related to COVID-19 benefits and taxes or a whole lot of other personal tax questions, it will hopefully have what you're after.
Read the FAQ
They're called "frequently asked questions" for a reason, right?
If you're running into a pesky problem or have a basic tax question, there's a chance someone else has been in the same situation.
So, give the CRA's FAQ a look before you phone up for help, just in case it has what you're looking for.
Consult the tax tips
The CRA has a good rundown of tax tips to help you navigate the confusing time.
Online, there is a ton of information on a whole bunch of topics, from how to do your taxes as a social media influence or how to deal with cryptocurrency income come April 30.
Sign up for digital services
Another great resource is the CRA's digital services.
Once you sign up, a lot is taken care of right there online. Not only are you able to file online, but a lot of your personal information is available for easy access on your My Account.
Plus, you can also create a unique PIN to help identify yourself when you do call.
Check processing times online
Rather than calling up the CRA to ask when something is going to be processed and completed, using this online tool can give you the exact same information you would get from calling.
It has the average processing times for a whole lot of CRA services and can help you know when certain things will be completed.
Check call wait times
If you do need to call, the CRA actually has an online tool to let you know phone wait times at any given moment.
This is to help you figure out when the best time to call is, and, hopefully, make that hold time a little bit shorter.
Request a call back
And, if you do call and it's a long, long wait, you can request to use their call back service.
However, this is only available at certain times of the day, with specific wait times, so don't count on it being available exactly when you need it.