1Online webinars were a disaster, at least in my province

At the beginning of the peak season, the Minister of Finance and National Revenue announced that CRA was ready for tax season, perhaps as a way to reassure taxpayers, after the recent negative publicity about the timeliness and quality of information provided, that the CRA was now better organized.  However, the CVITP was not.  The CRA’s webinars are a key part of the training, especially for new volunteers.  But the CRA ran into technical difficulties with Microsoft Teams at the outset of the training period and then cancelled all its 2026 webinars.  As an alternative, it referred volunteers to its 2025 webinars (for the 2024 returns).

2The volunteer shortage continues

Similar to last year, my local CRA CVITP coordinator sent out a message asking existing volunteers if they would be willing to volunteer with host organizations in short supply of volunteers.  Last year, the CRA CVITP collaborated with municipal authorities in my area to run a “superclinic” on a particular day, calling on volunteers at local host organizations to contribute their time if willing.  I don’t think this idea was repeated this year as I heard nothing about it.  (See this article for the broader outlook on volunteer recruitment and retention.)

3Information on a three-year grant program for host organizations was publicized too late

On February 3, 2026, the government announced that it would provide funding for the next three years for the CVITP.  (Recall that the pilot grant project terminated in 2025.)  This announcement came too late within the planning period to serve as an incentive for new organizations to host CVITP clinics.  And the funding formula remains less generous than during the third and fourth years of the pilot grant project.  So, it is unclear what the government hopes to accomplish with this initiative.  I will have more to say about this in a forthcoming article.

4Multi-factor authentication now works effectively

If you’ve been using two-step authentication for the Autofill My Return function in past years, you will know that the functionality of the option allowing the CRA to recognize your device for the next 8 hours was hit and miss.  But with the introduction of the use of Authenticator apps, this problem seems to have been resolved.  Nevertheless, it looks like one must reconfirm this for each tax year of the UFile software being used.

5Improvements in signing up newcomers to get their benefits

As I’ve previously written, getting newcomers their benefits is not always just a matter of filing their first returns.  With the introduction of a new online system for submitting the RC151, this has become substantially easier and faster.  Surprisingly, the CRA has not publicized this system.  (I stumbled onto it by accident.)  This should have been part of the list of “What’s New” items prepared for CVITP volunteers this year.  Nevertheless, it remains a mystery to me why the additional information the CRA asks for in the RC151 isn’t simply incorporated into the return since most of it is already present there anyway.

6Some newcomers filing for the first time are not filing for the first time

When permanent residents with children immigrate to Canada, they fill out forms so that their Canada Child Benefits can start very shortly after they arrive.  When filing the first return for one of these families, I discovered that the CRA system acts as though the family has previously filed a return: if I indicate it is their first return in the software, it is rejected when I try to EFILE it.  I started to ask permanent residents who had arrived in 2025 whether they were already receiving benefits.  Usually, this was most likely to be the case if they had children.  I stopped indicating in UFile that they were first time filers, even though this was true.

7One can (sometimes?) file a return electronically with the wrong date of birth

In two cases, I discovered that the CRA produced the Notice of Assessment (NoA) despite the error.  In their NoAs, the clients were asked to contact the CRA about providing additional documentation to confirm the client’s date of birth (DoB).  This struck me as excessively bureaucratic for what was a mistake which should never have been accepted in the first place.  Calls to the CVITP and EFILE helplines proved fruitless – I was referred to the main CRA help line.  When I finally managed to get a CRA agent who could explain what was going on, I was told that the request for additional documentation (for example, a certified copy of the birth certificate) happens especially when the DoBs on record with the CRA and Service Canada do not coincide.

8The CVITP 2025 year-end survey results were published in a timelier manner but still not very useful

Unlike the 2024 results which were only published in June 2025, the 2025 results were published at the beginning of March 2026.  I find these “end-of-year” surveys (they are conducted after the peak season but well before the full year is over) and the reported results disappointing: they provide very little information other than a few characteristics of the survey respondents and their satisfaction levels with various items.  The reported satisfaction levels are misleading as usage rates for the various items are not given.  The choice of items is also highly selective.  There is no attempt to collect and share information on issues that are important for future planning.  For example, do clinic coordinators have problems recruiting volunteers?  Are their clinics able to meet client demand for the CVITP service?  What percentages of host organizations and volunteers plan to provide CVITP services outside of the peak season?  This is a missed opportunity for collecting and sharing valuable information for planning the next season.

9CVITP volunteers continue to be kept in the dark with respect to SimpleFile and automatic tax filing developments

Many of my clients come with their CRA letter in hand inviting them to use the CRA’s SimpleFile by Phone to file their return.  None of these clients ask me for assistance in using this method.  Instead, all want me to prepare their returns.  Even though the target audience for SimpleFile is the same as for the CVITP, the CRA has never communicated anything about SimpleFile to CVITP volunteers.  Things are about to get even more complicated.  In the fall of 2026, the CRA will pilot automatic tax filing and then, in March 2027, approximately 1 million eligible individuals will be invited to use this new system.  Just as with SimpleFile, there’s a good chance that many invitation recipients will be CVITP clients who will turn to their CVITP volunteer for assistance.  But will the CRA brief its volunteers about what to expect with this new system in advance of the next tax season?

1Direct deposit information is still in the software

The CRA disabled the use of this function to sign up clients for direct deposit last year because of abuses (presumably fraud) in using that function.  However, the software suggests, to the unaware, that this can still be done.  This function should be removed entirely to eliminate this misunderstanding.

2ReFILE function has limitations

I discovered two situations in which one cannot use ReFILE to correct for errors in returns that have already been filed.  The first concerns errors with benefits.  The electronic version of ReFILE will only correct income, deductions as well as refundable and non-refundable credit errors and so another method needs to be used to make corrections to benefits.  The second concerns errors in reporting income.  If the client initially declares no income when their return is first filed, then subsequently wants to declare income, the electronic version of ReFILE cannot be used: the T1ADJ form must be submitted on paper.  The electronic version can only be used if the client initially declared some income.

1The Canada Disability Benefit is still not well known

Many of my clients are on provincial disability support.  But very few of them had heard of the Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) and even fewer had applied.  Even those who had applied were unaware of the measure contained in Budget 2025 providing all successful CDB applicants with $150 to cover some of their expenses related to obtaining the Disability Tax Credit from the CRA.

2The Canadian Dental Care Plan seems to be better known

Most of my clients had heard of this dental insurance and many had obtained coverage.  However, fewer were aware of the process for renewing one’s coverage annually.

3The Canada Learning Bond is virtually unknown

None of my clients had heard of this Registered Education Savings Plan for children in low-income households.  Equally, none knew that even if they have never opened this up, their 18-year-old children can apply to get $2,000 from Employment and Social Development Canada but that they need to do this before they turn 21 years of age.

1Some host organizations are encouraging their volunteers to file returns for clients with self-employment income

CRA CVITP criteria exclude the preparation of returns for clients with self-employment income.  But in the gig economy, volunteers are seeing an increasing number of clients arrive with self-employment income to report.  Volunteers are being encouraged to file their returns.  This may be less problematic where the client only has a small amount of self-employment income and does not wish to claim any business expenses.  However, where the client has a large amount of self-employment income, it may be more advantageous for them to pay an accountant to prepare their return.  Volunteers do not have the training and therefore should not be trying to file returns for clients who wish to claim business expenses.  (A couple of years ago, I heard about a CRA pilot project run with some CVITP volunteers who prepared returns for the self-employed.  But I heard nothing about any training these volunteers were given and subsequently, I have heard nothing about the results of this pilot.)

2Poor volunteer oversight is heightening some host organizations’ reputational risk

I frequently come across errors that have been made by volunteers in filing client returns.  Errors can happen for any number of reasons.  But often it is because the volunteer’s host organization has no quality control measures in place.  However, this should be a high priority, especially when using new volunteers who have little experience.   Otherwise, the host organization runs the risk of damaging its own reputation when a mistake is made and the client is given no support in contacting the CRA to correct the mistake.

3Some host organizations have sloppy security protocols for sharing confidential client information

One example I have frequently seen is the use of email, without the use of any password protection, to pass along confidential client information.  But there are many others.  A significant data breach at a host organization which deals with a lot of clients could jeopardize its future participation in the CVITP.

4Some clients complain about not receiving paper mail because they have previously signed up for email notifications

In some cases, they have accessed their CRA account online in the past but have lost their password.  In other cases, they never requested access to their CRA account online but are nevertheless only getting emails from the CRA.  This may be because a volunteer unwittingly registered the client for email notifications by inserting their email address in the return.  Host organizations should not, as a matter of regular practice, be requesting a client’s email address and sharing this with the volunteer.  Volunteers should get this directly from the client but only when the client has confirmed that they have access to their CRA account online.

5Clients place a lot of trust in volunteers and host organizations; while usually merited, it is sometimes misplaced

Clients ask CVITP volunteers to do their returns because they do not understand how to prepare and file an income tax and benefit return.  They trust their volunteer and host organization to know what they are doing.  The above four cases are some examples where this is not the case.  Just because clients are on low incomes and getting this service for free, they should not be provided with anything less than the best possible service.