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Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
Surprisingly (or not), we have quite a few accountants in here. Hopefully, out of love for their profession, they would be kind enough to throw a few freebies and answer some silly general questions in this thread from us plebes...
I'll kick it off with a simple one (right?); does CRA have any accountability for the time they take to review audit responses? They certainly have very little patience themselves when it comes to requesting documents in support of audit inquiries. And G-d forbid, you miss their deadlines to respond; re-assessments come back at you fast and furious. Conversely, when everything is copied, mailed, uploaded, provided etc. they sure take their sweet time to look at it and respond. Not only that, they give you f... all as to when you might even expect their response.
Case in point: back in July of 2023 I was asked to provide receipts supporting employment expenses, which I filed promptly on MyCRA. Three months passed - nothing. Called in October, spoke to someone: "oh, looks like nobody had a chance to see it for some reason; why don't you re-upload, so that we can now assign a special review number to your file". No apology, just a matter of fact. Happens, eh. Done. Nine months later now, still nothing. Called again. "Oh, yeah, we see it, it's in the cue." When can I expect a response? "We don't give this information, because we don't know"... I mean, come on. It has to be at least some form of a guideline on their response timing. CRA is becoming a Canadian version of KGB - clandestine, secretive, accountable to nobody. You cant' even sue them, really.
Added for GGG:
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https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...ing-times.html
You'd want to confirm the minimum processing time for the specific scenario on this link or by calling the CRA agent and confirming the processing time for the situation. Ask at what date to expect a resolution.
You might also see information in your MyCRA account progress tracker, but this feature is pretty broken right now.
Accountability wise, there's the ombudsman if you think that the situation you're dealing with is unreasonable. But the ombudsman isn't someone you contact to expedite the process.
https://www.canada.ca/en/taxpayers-ombudsperson.html
https://www.canada.ca/en/taxpayers-o...to-basics.html
If you want a depressing example of what to expect:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-age...s-2022-23.html
I don't know if you should have expected 10-12 weeks or 180 days. But they've certainly taken way too long at 9 months. I'd definitely call every few days until they give you a date when to get an idea whether it's still processing or whatever.