April 14, 2026
Summary: Back in August 2024, I wrote an article in which I pointed out that despite getting their returns filed by CVITP volunteers, many newcomers may still not be getting the benefits to which they are entitled. This is because the CRA requires them to first submit a completed RC151 form.
I bemoaned the fact that the benefit notices the CRA sent to newcomers who had not yet filed the RC151 were in fact quite unhelpful. This is because these letters simply stated that the CRA could not calculate the benefits to which they were entitled as the CRA did not have their global income. The CRA’s benefit notice made no mention of the requirement to prepare and submit a completed RC151.
After submitting a 2024 return in 2025, newcomers received CRA benefit notices with additional text stating that the client needed to fill in and submit the RC151 form. This year, the CRA has created a page online where one can electronically submit the information previously sought through submission of the paper RC151 form.
Why not take this one step further, as I originally suggested, and simply incorporate the information the CRA is seeking in the RC151 within the return itself? After all, for newcomers one must already indicate in their return the date they arrived in Canada together with the amount of income they received before they arrived in Canada that year. All the RC151 does is extend this back by two years, seeking the amounts of income newcomers received in each of the two previous years before they arrived in Canada.
Back in August 2024, I wrote an article in which I pointed out that despite getting their returns filed by CVITP volunteers, many newcomers may still not be getting the benefits to which they are entitled. This is because the CRA requires them to first submit a completed RC151 form.
Only permanent residents who enter the country with children are being informed by the CRA that to receive their Canada Child Benefits (CCB), they need to fill out the RC66 application as well as the RC66SCH. These two forms seek the same information as is sought in the RC151; their submission triggers the disbursement not only of the CCB but other benefits like the GST Credit (now the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit).[i]
The situation up until and including the 2024 tax season
Once the completed RC151 form was submitted – only by regular mail – it could take months before the RC151 data was entered into the CRA’s database, triggering the eventual release of benefits.
When I wrote about this, I bemoaned the fact that the benefit notices the CRA sent to newcomers who had not yet filed the RC151 were in fact quite unhelpful. This is because these letters simply stated that the CRA could not calculate the benefits to which they were entitled as the CRA did not have their global income. The CRA’s benefit notice made no mention of the requirement to prepare and submit a completed RC151.
Since then, there have been some interesting developments on this front.
Last year, the 2025 tax season
After submitting a 2024 return in 2025, newcomers received CRA benefit notices with additional text stating that the client needed to fill in and submit the RC151 form. This was decidedly more helpful.
The current situation in the 2026 tax season
The CRA has created a page online where one can electronically submit the information previously sought through submission of the paper RC151 form. This is a big improvement as it eliminates months of waiting for the paper copy to be received and processed by the CRA.
In the immediate, the CRA needs to publicize the existence of this new page. (Why was it not included as part of the “What’s new this filing season” information for CVITP volunteers this year?)
What next?
Why not take this one step further, as I originally suggested, and simply incorporate the information the CRA is seeking in the RC151 within the return itself? After all, for newcomers one must already indicate in their return the date they arrived in Canada together with the amount of income they received before they arrived in Canada that year. All the RC151 does is extend this back by two years, seeking the amounts of income newcomers received in each of the two previous years before they arrived in Canada.
What would this require? The CRA would need to inform commercial software companies to change this page on their products to support this change. Perhaps the real bottleneck lies with the CRA itself: traditionally its own system has required this information in the form of a separate RC151 form submission, and they are finding it difficult to merge this function within their EFILE system for the submission of returns via the internet.
Conclusion
The new online system represents a significant improvement. In the short term, the CRA needs to publicize it more. In the medium term, the CRA needs to streamline its systems by incorporating the information it is seeking within the return software, thereby making it unnecessary to submit any additional form separately. This would make life much simpler for newcomers and the work easier for CVITP volunteer preparers of their income tax and benefit returns.
[i] Confusingly, if the CVITP volunteer has indicated in these newcomers’ returns that they are filing for the first time, an error message will be generated by the CRA stating this is NOT the client’s first return when their returns are filed for the first time. The easy fix is to change the return, indicating it is not the first time the newcomer is filing a return.