Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) says it takes about 2 weeks to process returns filed using
NetFile, EFile, or Telefile, but they do not start processing returns until
mid-February. For paper tax returns, CRA says it takes about 4 weeks to
process returns filed before April 15, and about 6 weeks for returns filed
after April 15.
CRA indicates that there are approximately $1.7 billion in tax
cheques that have not been cashed. These cheques apparently never become
stale-dated. As of May 2025, an estimated 10.2 million cheques were uncashed,
dating back to 1998. You can check in CRA's My Account to see if you
have any uncashed cheques - you may be surprised! If you have uncashed
cheques, from My Account you can request that the cheques be reissued.
To check with CRA on the status of your tax return, you need the following
information:
your social insurance number
your date of birth
the Total Income amount that you calculated and entered on
line 150 of your tax return for the current year or the past year (use the
past year if you aren't sure if CRA has received your current year tax
return).
The methods to check on the status of your return or your
refund are:
online through Canada
Revenue Agency's My Account, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To use
the My Account service, you
can log in using your web banking account with your financial institution,
or using a CRA user ID and password.
The My Account web page has a link to the online registration
process.
You can set up direct deposit to your bank account online
through the Canada
Revenue Agency's My Account, or through your financial institution.
Setting up or changing direct deposit information can no longer be done
via EFILE or by phone starting March 24, 2025. See the CRA
March 21, 2025 announcement.