Taxpayer relief: asking the CRA to cancel penalties and interest

• Extraordinary circumstances: a flood or fire, a postal strike, a serious illness or accident, or serious emotional or mental distress such as a death in the immediate family.
• Financial hardship: the CRA may waive interest after it confirms you cannot pay. An example is when interest makes up most of the debt and there is no workable payment plan.
• Actions of the CRA: processing delays, errors, or incorrect information from the CRA.
• Other circumstances the CRA may consider.

Meeting these conditions does not guarantee relief.

For penalties, the request must relate to a tax year ending in the 10 calendar years before the year you apply. Only interest that built up in that time is considered.

• Penalties and interest outside the 10-year period.
• The assessed tax itself.
• Penalties the CRA has no authority to waive.
• Administrative charges, such as bank chargeback fees.

The CRA says the current average is about 16 months. It depends on how complex the request is and how complete your documents are. You can track the request in My Account with the CRA Progress Tracker.

• CRA Non-Filer helpline: 1-800-448-0444, Monday to Friday, 6:45 am to 7:30 pm Eastern.
• CRA TeleArrangement for personal income tax debt: 1-866-256-1147, Monday to Friday, 7 am to 10 pm Eastern.
• Free tax clinics for simple returns if your income is modest.
• A Licensed Insolvency Trustee, who may offer a free first meeting.