First of all you need to have a basic understanding what a CRA(Canada Revenue Agency) notice of assessment (NOA)really is. It is basically an invoice of your tax account. It should contain all of the pertinent tax information concerning you. In order to really understand it in its entirety and particularly if you do not agree with the information, you should speak with a Toronto accountant who also specializes in Canada tax.
The type of information that you will find on this assessment that is most important, is if it indicates that you owe some taxes. It will give you a breakdown of any payments you made on behalf of your tax obligation. It should also outline any tax credits that were allotted to you and will even give you an overview of the Registered Retirement Savings Plan. If you are one of the fortunate ones that were entitle to a refund then most likely the check will accompany your assessment.
Often people who are receiving a refund are so happy to receive a check that they ignore the details that are present on the notice of assessment. This is a mistake because it may be that you did not get back what you were expecting. Perhaps the CRA has denied a portion of your income tax claim.
Don’t just assume that because this is a formal assessment from the Canada Tax officials that you have to accept it as being the final word. This is when you want to consult with a Toronto tax accountant. This professional will explain what the discrepancies in your return versus the assessment are. He will then advise you as to your options and whether it would be worth appealing this assessment decision and on what grounds.
You may be thinking that this is a document and although it gives vital tax information it is not all that important. You will soon discover though that if you are in the process of obtaining a mortgage that it may be one of the documents that you are asked to provide. This is just one example of why having an accurate assessment is so important.
Normally you will have 90 days to launch an appeal with the CRA if you disagree with your assessment. There are several ways to go about this but if you decide to use a tax professional as we suggested here he will assist you with this. One way of filing the appeal is online through the CRA tax services or writing to the Chief of Appeals for the CRA. There is a special form called the T400A Objection Income Tax Act to be used.
If it turns out that you are still not satisfied with the Objection decision then you do have the option to proceed further to the Tax Court of Canada. If you are taxing these types of measures you really should rely on the assistance of both a Toronto tax accountant, and a Toronto tax lawyer as this can be a very complex process.
