The 2025 tax season is the first full filing period since the Canada Revenue Agency’s service overhaul — and the agency says Canadians should notice faster, simpler support across its digital tools and phone lines after last year’s backlash over long waits and incorrect advice.
CRA officials say the government-ordered service improvement plan wrapped up in December, with changes aimed at reducing call-centre delays, improving accuracy, and making online self-serve options easier to use. Melanie Serjak, assistant commissioner of the assessment benefits and service branch, said the agency has focused on improving how Canadians interact with the CRA after a difficult year for service quality.
Key dates for the 2025 filing season
The 2025 tax-filing season officially begins on Monday and runs for a little over nine weeks, ending April 30 for most taxpayers. For many Canadians, that deadline concentrates the pressure into a short window — and it’s also when phone lines typically experience the heaviest demand.
My Account updates aim to reduce calls
A major share of this year’s changes centre on CRA My Account. The agency says taxpayers will be able to manage balances and amounts owing, and set up payment plans, without needing to speak to a collections agent. CRA leaders also emphasize that keeping account details correct — including name, contact information, banking details, and address — is essential for smoother online filing and fewer interruptions.
Those changes are designed to shift routine tasks away from call queues and into self-serve flows. The CRA’s goal is straightforward: reduce the number of calls caused by fixable account issues and simple requests that can be handled online.
Account access is changing for locked-out users
Starting this year, taxpayers locked out of their CRA accounts can regain access using security questions rather than calling and waiting on hold. The agency also says first-time account creation should be quicker, with identity verification available through government-issued identification instead of relying on mailed credentials that can delay access for days.
Notices of assessment move online-only
Another notable shift is that the CRA plans to stop mailing paper notices of assessment, moving to online-only access. For Canadians used to receiving assessment documents by mail, that change makes My Account the central place to review outcomes, check balances, and confirm the status of a return.
Chat tools expand as phone demand stays high
The CRA has expanded the topics covered by its 24-hour generative AI chatbot and retired its older scripted chatbot. It has also extended weekday online chat with a live agent to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET, adding extra hours intended to support people who prefer not to call.
Even with a stronger self-serve push, the CRA expects phone demand to spike. The agency says call-centre agents typically handle around 40,000 unique calls per day in non-tax months, but that can climb to an average of 90,000 unique calls per day during the peak filing period from February to May. The CRA’s stated goal is to answer an average of 70% of unique callers during tax season.
Saturday phone lines return for peak season
To manage the surge, the CRA plans to operate six days a week during the peak months, with Saturday phone service available from March 21 to May 2 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET. The agency’s target is to keep waits under 30 minutes, and it says it will monitor queues and redirect callers to menu options if waits are expected to exceed that threshold.
Accuracy is the reputation problem the CRA wants to solve
Service delays weren’t the only issue last year. The CRA faced intense scrutiny after the Auditor General reported widespread inaccuracies in call-centre responses, particularly for individual tax questions. The CRA says it has strengthened training, revised how it evaluates accuracy, and introduced tools to track how agents are performing on both completeness and correctness.
New agents now complete anywhere from two to 13 weeks of classroom training, followed by live-call coaching alongside a more senior agent. Serjak said the agency has now achieved an accuracy rate of over 90% as targeted training and coaching continue.
Some services may still take longer than taxpayers want
Despite the overhaul, the CRA acknowledges certain processing timelines remain a frustration — especially for requests such as T1 adjustments or refiling. In some cases, paper or phone refiling can take up to 16 weeks, compared with a standard timeline of eight weeks from the time the request is received. The CRA says teams are working through backlogs and monitoring progress closely.
A public performance tracker is on the way
To add transparency, the CRA says it plans to launch a public tracker so Canadians can follow performance and see how service improvements are progressing. The agency frames the tracker as a way for taxpayers to measure whether the changes translate into faster, clearer support during the busiest weeks of the year.
If you need official filing details, deadlines, and CRA online services, the CRA directs taxpayers to the government’s tax-filing hub at Canada.ca’s personal income tax page.
