Review your Notice of Assessment
Your Notice of Assessment is CRA's statement of what it assessed on your tax return: your refund or balance owing, the income and tax figures it accepted, anything it changed, and your RRSP room for next year. Upload it here for a free first look in plain English, then get the full analysis by email.
First look free, no email neededWe never ask for your SINFiles deleted after 30 days
Upload your Notice of Assessment
The PDF from CRA My Account works best, or a clear, flat photo of the first page (JPG or PNG; we resize big phone photos for you). PDFs up to 5 MB. A Notice of Reassessment works too.
Your notice, at a glance
General information, not tax advice. Written by AI from your notice and checked against our wording rules; compare the figures with your notice.
Get the full analysis
What each figure means, what changed from what you filed and why it matters, your deadlines, your RRSP room and what to check.
Your Notice of Assessment, explained
We've emailed you a private link to this analysis. It works for 3 days: open or download it as a PDF.
What's on your Notice of Assessment
CRA sends a Notice of Assessment after it processes your return, by mail or in CRA My Account. Most notices have the same parts:
Account summary
The tax year, the date of the notice, and whether you get a refund, owe a balance or have nil. A balance shows the amount and when it's due.
Tax assessment
The main lines CRA assessed, such as total income (line 15000), net income, taxable income (line 26000), net federal and provincial tax, and the tax already deducted.
Explanation of changes
If CRA changed what you filed, it says what and why: a credit reduced, a slip added, a deduction it needs receipts for. No section usually means no change.
RRSP deduction limit
How much you can deduct for RRSP contributions next year, and any unused contributions you've made but not yet deducted.
A Notice of Reassessment means CRA changed an assessment it had already made, often after a review or your own adjustment request. Read its explanation of changes closely: it is what the dates below count from.
How we read your notice, and what we keep
- You upload it. The file goes from your browser straight to a private storage area in Canada (Montréal). It has no public address and is deleted automatically 30 days after upload.
- We read it with AI. We use AI (paid API credits) with our own set of rules to read and explain your notice: general information only, no promises, only the figures printed on your notice, and never a Social Insurance Number. Everything it writes is checked against those rules before you see it.
- You get a free first look. The tax year, refund or balance, the main figures, your RRSP room, what CRA changed and what it means. No email needed.
- Want the full analysis? Add your name and email. You get it on screen and by a private link that works for 3 days, and our team gets a short summary so a person can follow up if you want help.
We keep only the written explanation, never the text of the document. If our AI is busy or down, you can leave your email and our team reviews your notice by hand. More on our How we use AI page and in the privacy policy.
Deadlines after your notice arrives
- If you disagree: you can generally file an objection by the later of one year after the filing deadline for that return or 90 days after the date of the notice. Talk to us before that date.
- If you owe: for most people the balance is due by April 30 of the year after the tax year, even if the notice comes later. CRA charges compound daily interest on anything unpaid after that.
- Instalment reminders: if you owed more than $3,000 in tax (in BC or Alberta) in the current year and either of the two years before, CRA may ask you to pay by instalments. Check whether a reminder came with your notice.
- RRSP: your notice shows your deduction limit for next year. Contributions made by the 60th day of the next year can count for the current tax year.
Not sure where you stand? Our personal tax service can handle the reply to CRA, and the income tax calculator and RRSP tax savings calculator help you plan the next return.
Questions about your notice?
Book a free 15-minute call by video or phone. We'll go through your notice with you, look at what CRA changed, and talk through your options before any deadline.
Which office?
Book a free 15-minute call15-minute calls every weekday at 10 am and 2 pm Pacific (11 am and 3 pm Mountain), except holidays.
Typical next slots, confirmed when you book:
Call (236) 300-3322Email contact@finvo.caMon–Fri, 9 am – 5 pm PT/MT5.0 on Google · 92 reviews
Your notice, answered
What is a Notice of Assessment?
It is the statement CRA sends after it processes your income tax return. It shows the tax year, your refund or balance owing, the main income and tax figures it assessed, any changes it made to what you filed, and your RRSP deduction limit for the next year. If CRA changes your return later, you get a Notice of Reassessment.
Is the first look really free?
Yes. Upload your notice, tick the box, and the first look appears on screen with no email needed: the tax year, refund or balance, the main figures, your RRSP room and what CRA changed. The full analysis asks for your name and email so we can send you the link and reply.
How do you read my notice?
We use AI (paid API credits) with our own set of rules to read and explain your notice. The rules say: general information only, no promises, quote only the figures printed on your notice, and never repeat a Social Insurance Number. Everything it writes is checked against those rules before you see it. How our AI is run, and who processes the file, is on our How we use AI and privacy pages.
Do I need to show my SIN?
No. We never ask for your Social Insurance Number. Please cover it before you upload, for example by blacking it out on a photo. If it is visible, the AI is told never to repeat it and we remove anything that looks like a SIN from what it writes before it is shown, stored or emailed.
How long do you keep my file?
The file is stored in a private area in Canada (Montréal) and deleted automatically 30 days after upload. We keep only the written explanation, never the text of the document. The private link to your full analysis works for 3 days. If you leave your details, we keep them with your enquiry so our team can reply.
CRA changed my return. What can I do?
Read the explanation of changes on the notice first. If you disagree, you can generally file an objection by the later of one year after the filing deadline for that return or 90 days after the date of the notice. Talk to us before that date and bring any receipts or slips CRA mentions.
When is a balance owing due?
For most people, the balance for a tax year is due by April 30 of the next year, even if the notice arrives later. CRA charges compound daily interest on any amount not paid by then. The notice shows the amount owing and the due date.
Can you fix my return for me?
We can go through your notice with you, help you respond to CRA and prepare an adjustment or an objection if it makes sense. Book a free 15-minute call, and add Finvo as your representative on CRA so we can see your notices and slips.