Well this has been a major year for tax errors in the clan. First I discovered I’ve been reporting an incorrect business code for over 10 years. Then another relative discovers (admits?) he has some T2125s from some continuing education certificate courses a few years ago that he never claimed. I helped him out by showing him how to change his tax return by filing a T1-ADJ online using the CRA My Account website.

First he had to apply online to get a CRA Security Code and wait for it to arrive in the mail. That took about 3 days. Now his CRA My Account is fully set up so he can start using it.

NOTE: His tax returns have all been assessed and he has received his Notices of Assessment. You generally do NOT file a T1-ADJ until after they have processed your return. If you mail or e-file it too soon you will likely cause the entire Revenue Canada computer system to crash to its knees and start coughing out audit letters. Please restrain yourself from invoking mass audits on yourself and your colleagues and wait for that Notice of Assessment!

Save Yourself Some Tax Penalties

If you know the correction you need to report means that you will owe the CRA money, PAY IMMEDIATELY! The sooner you pay, the more successfully you can appeal to have any fines or penalties waived. If you wait to pay the government is not as likely to look kindly on your request for forgiveness.

What Years Can I Correct Online?

In 2014, you can ask for corrections to your tax returns for 2004 to 2013. (You won’t file your 2014 taxes until spring 2015.)

How to Adjust Your Tax Return Online Using CRA My Account

To sign in to your My Account website

1. Go to http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/esrvc-srvce/tx/ndvdls/myccnt/menu-eng.html
   1. Click on the CRA Login button.
   2. The CRA Login Page
   3. In the User ID: field type in your id.
   4. In the Password: field type in your password.
   5. Click on the Login button.

The Additional Security Feature Page
Type the answer to your security question and click on the Continue button.

The Last CRA Login Page
Check the date and time of your last recorded login. If it’s ok, click on the Continue button.

The Welcome Page
Now you are in your main CRA My Account home page.

Click on the link on the left side of the screen called: Change my return

The Change My Return Page
Read the information on this page about adjusting your tax return. If you are not sure you can request the required change this way, click on the link to Help with this page and read the information there.

From the drop-down list, select the year for which you wish to change your tax return.

Click on the Go button.

The T1 General 2013 Page

1. Click on the tab for the form or schedule you need to change.
   For example, to add an amount for eligible tuition fees, click on the tab: Federal tax SCHEDULE 1
2. In this case, nothing had been reported previously for tuition fees.To add a line, in the Other lines for Federal tax: section, from the Select a line drop-down list, click the down facing arrowhead and select the needed line.We selected:
   323: Tuition, education, and textbook amounts
3. Then click on the Add line button.
4. When that was done, a new line was added to the web page. It stated:
   To revise line 323, refer to schedule 11.
5. We clicked on this new link to schedule 11.
6. The web page refreshed and added a mini Schedule 11 with lines 320, 321, 322 and 327.
   We typed in the appropriate values in the New Amount fields.
   NOTE: This did NOT change the value of 0 in the new line 323. That’s because 0 is the value submitted on the original tax return. It should not change at this point.
7. We then scrutinized the entire web page carefully to make sure everything else looked ok.
8. When we were sure it looked ok, we clicked the Review and Submit Changes button at the bottom of the web page.

Argh. It says “The new amount in line 320 must be a whole number only (no decimal.) So why does his T2022A have cents on it!

Anyway, we removed the cents and tried again. (Huh. No credit for that 37 cents!)

Ah, this time it progressed.

The Review Changes Page
We read the information about errors and warnings, then clicked on Continue.

The Warning(s) Detected! Page
We claimed tuition costs but not any education or textbook amounts and we did not transfer any amounts to a spouse or a parent. This screen just asks us to confirm that we didn’t want to make any of these related changes.

We read through it, then clicked on the Continue button.

The Submit Changes Page
The system responded with a summary of the lines we had changed and their past and present values.

If you need to change something else, click on the link Make More Changes to go back to the T1 General 2013 screen.

We thought we needed to add the tuition amount to his Ontario tax return. So we clicked on the tab: Provincial tax ON428

The Provincial Tax ON428 Page
Again, there was no line 5856, so we had to add it.

1. To add a line, in the Other lines for Provincial tax: section, from the Select a line drop-down list, click the down facing arrowhead and select the needed line.We selected:
   5856: Tuition and education amounts (provincial/territorial Schedule S11
   Then click on the Add line button.
2. When that was done, a new line was added to the web page. It stated:
   To revise line 5856, refer to schedule S11.
   We clicked on this new link to schedule S11.
3. The web page refreshed and added a mini Schedule S11 with lines 5914, 5916, 5918 and 5920.
   In the Eligible tuition fees paid section, it states: To revise line 5914, refer to line(s) 320.
   So we clicked on the link to 320.
4. This is the line we have already corrected on the federal return. So the CRA system will apparently automatically adjust the provincial Eligible tuition fees paid based on the correction we have already made to the Federal tuition fees paid.

That means we’re done in this section.

We then scrutinized the entire web page carefully to make sure everything else looked ok.
When we were sure it looked ok, we clicked the Review and Submit Changes button at the bottom of the web page.

We read through the Certification Statement and clicked to check the box to acknowledge the statement.

We clicked on the Submit button.

The Thank You for Submitting a Request to Change Your Income Tax and Benefit Return Page
We were informed his request had been accepted and that he would receive his Notice of Assessment within the next two weeks.

Cool! He’s due to get a small tax refund! It says how much.

If he owed taxes, he could use this reported tax difference to immediately pay his taxes owing. That would strengthen his case to request the CRA waive any interest or penalties.

Exit the My Account Website Safely
Since now he just has to wait, it was time to sign out of the My Account program.

1. Click on the Logout button.
2. Click on the Exit button.
3. Empty your cache and close your Browser session for increased security.

Related Reading

• CRA Website: How to Change Your Return
• How to Change Your Tax Return by Mailing In a Letter or T1-ADJ to the CRA

Join In
Have you filed a T1-ADJ to revise your taxes online? Did you get a whopping refund or have to pay a nasty penalty? Please share your CRA stories with a comment.