During the pandemic, relieving changes were made to the policies and practices of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with respect to the collection of tax amounts owed by Canadians. In the past several months, the CRA has resumed its work to address taxpayer debt, meaning that benefit and credit payments and tax refunds may once again be applied by the CRA to pay down outstanding balances owed by a taxpayer.

The CRA recently updated and re-issued its Information Circular IC98-1R8, which outlines its current policies and practices on the collection of tax debts from Canadians. That updated Circular can be found on the CRA website at IC98-1R8 Tax Collections Policies - Canada.ca. More information on the CRA’s collection policies (including the availability of payment arrangements) can be found on the CRA website at When you owe money – collections at the CRA - Canada.ca.