If you have authorized a business representative such as an accountant, bookkeeper or tax professional to act on your behalf with the CRA, there are some important things you have to keep in mind.
- You should remember that business authorizations do not expire automatically. You will need to specify an expiry date if needed. If you do not set an expiry date, your authorizations will remain valid. So ensure that you set an expiry date of authorization if you need to.
- As mentioned above, authorizations for business representatives do not have an expiry unless an expiry date is set. Therefore, you do not need to send an authorization form to the CRA every time you file your taxes.
- You can check your list of authorized representatives and their transactions with the CRA on your behalf online through the My Business Account.
- If you need to quickly authorize a representative in order to file a tax return, submit a document or resolve an issue, you can log in to My Business Account. You will need your representative’s ID, Group ID or business number to be able to proceed with the authorization. Select “Representatives” under “Manage” from the menu on the left of the Welcome page. Once you complete your authorization, your representative will immediately have access to your CRA account.
- Your accountant can also get your authorization for you. They can log into "Represent a Client" where they can get a form for you to sign. They can submit the signed form online and they can get authorization and access to your information in 5 days or less.
Source: cra.gc.ca
