The Buzz

News for businesses - Businesses – Tax information newsletter, Edition 2025- 05 – October 21, 2025

Recent enhancements specific for improvements to business

The CRA has recently enhanced some services for businesses, including the following that are specific to My Business Account:

• There is now a “View” capability on the address and owner maintenance screens for business owners and their authorized representatives, allowing them to self-serve and reducing the need to call the CRA.
• The GST/HST access code is available directly to business owners, increasing self-service options and reducing calls to the Business Enquiries phone line.
• There is now access to the account overview page for Specialty Business Returns (Other Levies System) on accounts placed in pending closure status.

Enhancements to other services for business include the following:

• An enhanced Progress tracker service to allow corporations to track the progress of T2 Voluntary Disclosure returns.
• The ability to regain access to their CRA account without the need to call if they have lost access or have been locked out because they forgot their sign-in information.
• An enhancement with the Business Number (BN) system to help mitigate suspicious activities and strengthen safeguards against identity misuse.
• An enhancement to the Business Registration Online (BRO) application to prevent threat actors validating SINs for potential misuse.
• An enhanced T2 for third party software with security measures for filers to obtain Web Access Codes and Digital Access Codes. These include confidential questions that aren’t publicly available, enhanced protection for Corporate Internet Filing pages, and account lockouts after repeated failed login attempts to prevent unauthorized access and bot attacks.

Filing Information Returns Electronically

The 2026 XML specifications and schema for the electronic filing of information returns are now available on Canada.ca. The 2026 XML specifications have been updated to include comprehensive details on tag formatting. Important changes have been made to all information return types ahead of the 2026 filing season. We strongly encourage you to review them closely on our web page: XML specifications for all information return types - Canada.ca.

Please note that electronic filing will be unavailable due to maintenance starting December 22, 2025, and will reopen January 12, 2026.

Stay Informed & Subscribe Today

Don’t miss important updates! Join our electronic mailing list to receive timely email notifications about legislative changes affecting information returns, critical filing updates, and new technical specifications for electronic filing. Subscribe now: Electronic mailing list - Electronic Filing of Information Returns.

For detailed guidance and resources, visit: File information returns electronically (tax slips and summaries) - Canada.ca.

Take action today to ensure a smooth and successful filing experience!

Are you registering a business with the CRA?

We’ve enhanced our online content on business registration with the CRA to make the process clearer and easier for businesses to get started with the CRA. The updated step-by-step guidance helps users prepare, register for a business number, and open CRA program accounts – all through easy-to-use self-serve digital options that save time and reduce the need to call us.

Add your email to My Business Account – Your CRA mail is now online

The CRA now delivers most business correspondence online. To make sure you don’t miss important updates log into My Business Account and add or update your email address. This allows the CRA to notify you when new mail is available or when changes are made to your account. Without a current email address you could miss key information.

The Liaison Officer service is here to help!

Did you know the CRA has a free service designed to help small business owners and self-employed individuals understand their tax obligations? It’s called the Liaison Officer service and it offers personalized support to those who are self-employed or run their own business.

Our liaison officers can help you understand your tax obligations, learn about business deductions and avoid common errors.

The results speak for themselves. Over 98% of taxpayers who participated in an anonymous post-visit survey said our liaison officers were able to answer all of their tax-related questions.

Don’t delay, book a personalized visit or learn more about the Liaison Officer service by visiting canada.ca/cra-liaison-officer.

Reminder: There are important changes to how tax preparers obtain access to an individual's account

The CRA has improved how representatives obtain access to individual clients' accounts by enhancing the Alternative Authorization Request service in Represent a Client, making it faster. Representatives can now gain instant access to individual clients' accounts using information from a notice of assessment that is at least six months old.

Note: As of July 15, 2025, the Authorize a Representative service in EFILE software is no longer available for individual clients. Representatives must now use Represent a Client to obtain access.

This change does not affect authorization requests submitted through EFILE for business clients.

Check out our step-by-step guides:

• For Representatives: Need to submit an authorization request? Follow these steps (PDF, 200 KB) to gain online access to your clients' information.
• For taxpayers: Need to authorize your representative? Clients can follow these steps (PDF, 218 KB) for how to authorize a representative.

Learn more about these changes.