How to Change Your Income Tax Return by Mailing In a T1-ADJ Or a Letter

As I mentioned before, I realized this year, about 12 hours after NETFILEing my 2013 tax return, that I have a reporting error on my T2125 business return. Checking through my files, I discovered the error goes back at least 10 years because this numeric code has been copied, by me, erroneously from one year’s return to the next. Sigh. Because it doesn’t affect my taxes owing, I doubt Revenue Canada cares. But I’d like to keep my files accurate, so I want to adjust all of my returns. I decided to send a letter or a T1-ADJ in to the Canada Revenue Agency to change the info on my past tax returns.

NOTE: Each of these tax returns has been assessed and I have received the Notices of Assessment for them. The CRA does not like it if you try to amend your return while they are still processing it for the first time. Wait till you get your NoA before making corrections or phone them to discuss it if it is an urgent mistake.

Always  pay any taxes you know you owe immediately. It puts you in a much stronger position to request they waive any interest or penalties.

Do I Have to Re-Do All My Taxes Because I Made a Mistake?

No.

You only submit a request to change the mistake. You do NOT re-calculate all of your taxes. Their computer will do that.

So if you forgot to report $51 in interest from a T5, you will only report a correction to Line 121. And pay the tax you owe as soon as possible.

Which means I have to contradict myself and say you may *want* to re-do your taxes so you can pay the tax you owe sooner even though you will not be sending your re-calculated return to the CRA. Or you could overpay what might be owing and wait to get a refund after they re-assess your return. (For example, you could pay $50 in tax on the $51 mistake and wait a few months to get some of that overpayment back.)

Why Did I Submit My Tax Correction on Paper?

I have electronic access to my tax returns through the CRA My Account program. So why didn’t I just file a T1-ADJ online?

Two reasons:

• I didn’t notice anything to click to select to adjust a T2125 online, although I could find how to change line 135 my net business income, if I needed to.
• The correction I need to make is to a field that does not have a line number. It’s an informational field at the beginning of the form, not one of the numbers used to calculate my income, expenses or taxes.

In my situation, it seemed easier to explain what needed to be fixed in a letter than to try to summarize it into a tiny text field.

How to Adjust Your Tax Return With a Letter to the CRA

Write a letter including

• a brief explanation of the cause of your error
• what needs to be corrected
• which year’/s’ return/s need/s correction
• the line number, if applicable, of the number to be corrected
• the name of the line that needs to be corrected
• your social insurance number
• your full name as used on your tax returns
• your mailing address
• a telephone number where you can be reached during CRA business hours

You’ll need to sign the letter.

Don’t explain more than necessary. For example, just say “I mistakenly reported my business code on my T2125.” Don’t bother saying “My uncle’s cousin insisted that code 1235 was for businesses importing chinchillas from Ecuador but not for businesses importing chinchillas and aardvarks which would be code 1236 and like the fool I am I believed him and used it not realizing that that was really the code for businesses exporting chinchillas from Ecuador.”

Enclose with your letter any required supporting documentation. For example, if you are *mailing* in a request to adjust your tax return because of an un-reported RRSP contribution, you should include the original RRSP contribution receipt. (If you are electronically filing a T1-ADJ for this problem you would keep the RRSP contribution receipt until they request it unless the website tells you to send it in.)

How to Adjust Your Tax Return by Completing a Paper T1-ADJ Form

If the change you need is easy to explain, for example you want to report some interest income that you received for which you only found the T5 a few weeks after you mailed your return, you may find it easier to fill in a T1-ADJ than to write a letter.

Go to the CRA website at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pbg/tf/t1-adj/README.html
And click on a link to either fill in and print a T1-ADJ or just print one and fill it in by hand.

As with a letter, you’ll need to fill in

• your social insurance number
• your full name as used on your tax returns
• your mailing address
• a telephone number where you can be reached during CRA business hours
• which year’s return needs correction (fill in one T1-ADJ for each year that needs to be changed)

You’ll also need to list

• the line number from the form or schedule of the number to be corrected
• the name of the line from the return or schedule (probably in case they can’t read your printing for the line number; or because you’ve already admitted you make mistakes)
• the incorrect original amount you reported
• whether to add or subtract the next amount from that original amount
• the amount to add or subtract
• the revised, correct amount you should have reported

If you need to make an explanation or provide details, there is a space to do so.

You’ll need to sign the form.

They have an example on the form if that sounds confusing. Here’s my own example:

Say you reported $120 in interest income from a T5.
Then you found another T5 for $51 that you forgot to report.
You’d report:

• Line number from return or schedule: Line 121
• Name of line from return or schedule: Interest and other investment income
• Previous amount: $120
• + -: +
• Amount of change: $51
• Revised amount: $171

Where Do I Mail My T1-ADJ or Letter Requesting an Adjustment to My Income Taxes?

You should be mailing your form or letter to the CRA office that handles your taxes. You can check which office this is by looking at your most recent Notice of Assessment. It’s on the top line after your Social Insurance Number and the Tax Year. For example, it may say “Sudbury ON P3A 5C1.”

You can get the complete mailing address online from the list on the CRA website. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/cntct/prv/txcntr-eng.html

Yes, there is a tax centre in Shawinigan. What a surprise! (For those of you too young to know why put “the little guy from Shawinigan” in your search engine and become enlightened.)

How Long Will I Have to Wait for the CRA to Change My Tax Return (and Send Me My Money?)

This is where the bad news comes in. It’s slow to revise your taxes and even slower if you file a request by mail not electronically.

The CRA website says an online T1-ADJ request usually takes 2 weeks to process. A letter usually takes 8 weeks to process. They say it may take longer in late summer and fall and for a variety of other reasons.

So don’t buy anything on your credit card until AFTER they deposit your refund!

What Happened In My Case?

Well, I’ve just mailed my letter so I guess I won’t expect to hear anything till August.
I spoke with the CRA already about my mistake so I’m not really expecting to hear anything anyway. The representative told me that they likely will just add a copy of my letter to my file because the number I’m correcting isn’t really used for anything. (I wonder just how many of those fields we fill in on our taxes are never really used?!) Still, I feel better knowing I’ve done my part to make my returns “correct and complete” because “It is a serious offence to make a false return.”

Related Reading

• How to Change Your Tax Return by Filing a T1-ADJ Online Using the CRA My Account Website
• CRA Website: How to Change Your Return

Join In
Have you had to correct an error by mailing in a T1-ADJ or a letter? Did it seem like forever before you heard back from the CRA? Please share your tax tales with a comment.