About a million Canadians can file tax returns by phone this year 

The Minister of National Revenue, Diane Lebouthillier announced recently the launch of a new automated telephone filing service called File my Return. This telephone filing method is only available to “low income or a fixed income that is unchanged year-to-year” according to the press release.

Over 950,000 Canadians fall into this category and will be notified by personalized letter starting mid-February of their qualification for this service. To submit a return, an eligible person needs to answer a few questions and provide some personal information without doing any calculations or filling any paper forms by using the automated phone service.

Eligible individuals can start using File my Return from February 26, 2018, by calling the automated phone service. If a person hangs up during the call, their information will “not be saved and their income tax and benefit return will not be filed”.

This service will be available throughout the tax-filing season between 6 a.m. to 3 a.m., Eastern time, every day of the week.

“We know that Canadians lead busy lives and doing taxes can sometimes be a challenge,” Minister Lebouthillier said. “This is especially the case for people with reduced mobility, people who live far from service locations and people without Internet access. The CRA is working to make it easier and simpler to find, complete and file a return.”

Source: Government of Canada