Note: As the 2025 tax season unfolds, this page may be modified to reflect further changes and clarifications that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has yet to make.
ESSENTIALS FOR VOLUNTEERS
1. Preparing the Income Tax and Benefit Return
Download the 2024 (and earlier versions) of the UFile software here.
Get the activation key for the software (each year’s version requires a different activation key) from your clinic coordinator. (This is provided to the clinic coordinator by the local CRA CVITP representative.)
Open the “Settings” (in the top right-hand side of your screen) and then the “EFILE-Netfile setup” to insert your EFILE number and password, the name of the clinic you are volunteering at as well as the city it is located in, and finally the COIN (in other words, everything that is asterisked).
EFILE: Volunteers with EFILE numbers can EFILE returns from 2017 to 2024 inclusive. Returns for 2015 and 2016 must be printed out on paper, signed by the client and mailed in.
Autofill My Return (AFR): This function within the UFile software can be used to download information, including T slips, directly from the CRA database for 2017 to 2024 returns. A volunteer must have applied for and received their own EFILE number to do this. (Here’s why we think every volunteer should know how to use AFR.)
Represent A Client: This CRA portal can be used to access the client’s CRA account to get the T slip information for the preparation of the 2015 and 2016 returns. (At the same time a volunteer receives their own EFILE number, they should also receive a RepID number.) To access the client’s CRA account, the volunteer must first file a federal authorization request for the client using the 2024 UFile software. (Here’s why we think volunteers may wish to learn how to use this.)
ReFILE: This function allows the volunteer to prepare a correction (using the form T1ADJ) to a return which has already been filed. Prior to 2023, volunteers could use the UFile software to fill out the T1ADJ, but then it had to be printed up and mailed in by the client. Starting with the 2023 UFile software, volunteers can prepare the T1ADJ and file it in electronically using the Refile function.
Volunteer Identification Number: In the fall of 2024, the CRA informed existing volunteers of their new Volunteer Identification Number (VIN). This is a permanent number, like the EFILE and RepID numbers, which volunteers receive once and retain throughout their service with the CVITP. The CRA has still not elaborated on the way this will be used. (See our article here where we speculate on some possible uses of the VIN.)
Indicator of uncashed cheques: Introduced for the 2024 tax season, this feature appeared on the client’s page in the CRA database, together with the T slip information, when the volunteer uses AFR to download the client information to prepare their return. If it said “Yes”, it meant that the CRA had uncashed cheques for the client. To get forms which request the cheques to be reissued, the volunteer had to use the “Represent A Client” portal to access the client’s account. The CRA has recently announced that this indicator will no longer appear in AFR on the client’s page. No explanation was given for why it has been dropped. However, the “uncashed cheques” feature still exists within the client’s CRA account when using “Represent a Client”.
2. Benefits
For those provinces where the Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR) is paid out, the UFile software currently gives the same rates in the new period (April 2025 to January 2026) as in the previous period (April 2024 to January 2025). At this time, it is unclear if these rates will be increased, stay the same or eliminated entirely. Anyone who has been following federal politics will know that the consumer carbon tax is highly controversial. The CCR exists because there is a consumer carbon tax: consumers who buy carbon emitting products pay a carbon tax to the federal government, the revenue of which is redistributed as the CCR. If the consumer carbon tax is eliminated (as most federal parties seem to be suggesting may happen soon), then it will be difficult to maintain the CCR. In the meantime, CCR payments for the April 2025 to January 2026 may require some legislative action by Parliament. And as Parliament has been prorogued until March 24, 2025, no decisions are presently being taken. At this time, it is unclear what will happen when Parliament returns. The federal government’s fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31 of the next year. As Parliament is not presently sitting, no budget has been tabled for the next fiscal year.
The Canada Disability Benefit will likely start to be paid starting in July 2025 and running until June 2026. This income-tested benefit will provide up to $200 per month to recipients. To receive the benefit, one must be between the ages of 18 and 64, have filed the 2024 return, be in possession of a valid Disability Tax Credit Certificate issued by the CRA, and have applied through Service Canada to receive this benefit. Service Canada has not yet posted information on the application process.
GOOD TO KNOW
The Canadian Dental Care Plan helps children under 18 and people aged 65 and older with the cost of their dental care. There is a separate application process for obtaining this benefit. To be eligible to receive this income-tested benefit, the client or the child’s parent(s) must be up to date in filing their returns. The federal government had planned to open applications to low-income individuals and families not currently eligible. But those plans now appear to be on hold and there is no indication when adults between the ages of 18 and 64 may be able to apply.
The federal government started experimenting with automatic tax filing in July of 2024. This pilot is called SimpleFile, and included three methods called SimpleFile by Phone, SimpleFile Digital and SimpleFile by Paper. See my assessment of this pilot here. As I indicated in this article, the CRA cannot further develop automatic tax filing without some significant legislative actions by Parliament. Yet these are not likely to happen anytime soon. In the meantime, the CRA is stuck with its three SimpleFile methods which it will be experimenting with again this year. One must be invited the CRA to use this service; some CVITP clients may receive such a letter of invitation but are not obliged to file their return using this service.