There has been a rise in fraudulent telephone calls, text messages and emails from individuals who claim to work for the Canada Revenue Agency. These scams commonly either promise a “refund” if you enter in certain personal information or threaten aggressive collection action against you if you fail to pay an amount owing, among other methods. Knowing the following three important things can help prevent you falling victim to such fraud:
· CRA does not communicate by email, other than notifications to view mail on CRA My Account. All emails from anyone who directly claims to be from CRA are fraudulent without exception. Disregard these types of correspondence and do not open any attachments associated with them.
· CRA is required to provide any communications they make in writing. If you receive a telephone call from someone claiming to be from CRA, insist that they communicate with you by mail either to you directly or to your accounting firm as your representative. Your address and/or your accounting firm’s address should already be on record for your account with CRA; therefore, do not provide any information over the telephone.
· We recommend engaging your accounting firm to deal with any communication with CRA. While this is ultimately your decision, having an experienced accountant act for you means peace of mind that CRA queries are being addressed fully, professionally, and in a timely manner. Further, having your accountant involved from the outset means they will be alerted to any matters that may need further attention.
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