5. Get a decision from the Canada Revenue Agency
Question & Answer
Can I appeal a decision about child tax benefits?After you file your objection with the (CRA), they decide whether or not they agree with your objection.
If the CRA agrees with your objection, they’ll tell you if you now qualify for the Canada child benefit (CCB). During this process, they’ll make changes to your tax return and send you what’s called a “notice of reassessment”.
If the CRA does not agree with your objection, they’ll send you a letter saying that their original decision was correct.
Getting information from the CRA
The CRA will give you information related to their decision, if you ask for it. This can help you understand their decision.
You have the right to get:
- copies of your tax returns
- reports and papers the CRA prepared about your assessment
- records of discussions between CRA employees about your assessment
- copies of court decisions and laws that the CRA used to make their decision
- information that the CRA got from other people about you
And there may be other information that the CRA has that they’ll give you if you ask.
Information the CRA won’t give you
The CRA won’t give you information that:
- is about another person or business
- the laws says is confidential
- relates to something they’re looking into, which they call “investigating”
- is from other federal government departments
- is about the methods they used to make their decisions, if giving you this information would make it hard for them to use these methods in the future
If you disagree with the CRA’s decision
If you don’t agree with the CRA’s decision about your objection, you can appeal to the Tax Court of Canada and ask for a different decision.
You must appeal to the Tax Court within 90 days of getting the CRA’s notice about their decision.
You can also appeal to the Tax Court if the CRA does not give you a decision within 90 days of when you filed your objection.
If you think you want to appeal to the Tax Court, you will need to get legal help.
