About this service

Represent a client is a service that provides authorized representatives with secure and controlled online access to their individual or business clients' tax information.  Since February 2006, individuals have been able to authorize their representatives to deal with the CRA on their behalf through this online service. As of October 2007, business owners are now able to authorize their employees, or third party representatives (such as a tax services or payroll business) to deal with the CRA on their behalf through this service.

Anyone wishing to gain online access to the tax information of their clients, employer, family members, or friends needs to register as a representative with this service. A business (e.g., professional tax services) may also register with this service to be a representative of a taxpayer or a business.  Online access to tax information only becomes effective once a registered representative is authorized by their client, employer, family member, or friend.

To register with this service, each representative has to get an epass, which is a fast and easy way to access this and other CRA and Government of Canada online services. Representatives use their epass with this service to access information and services on their client's behalf. In order to get an epass you will need your last Notice of Assessment.  You will need the information it contains to identify yourself to the CRA. 

Individuals who want to authorize their representative can do so online using the My Account service or by submitting Form T1013, Authorizing or Cancelling a Representative.

Business owners who want to authorize their representative can do so online using the My Business Account service or by submitting Form RC59, Business Consent Form.

Select Overview of this service (PDF 440 KB) to see a flow process that depicts this service.

 Representatives

1. Authenticate using the eight-character alphanumeric access code from their Notice of Assessment  and their postal code.
2. Get an epass. The security and protection of confidential client information are the CRA's highest priorities. As the epass provides access to confidential information, do not share your epass with anyone. For more information, see CRA epass services.
3. Register yourself as a representative, either as an employee of a tax services business or as an independent representative, for example, a sole practitioner, employee, friend, or family member.
4. Upon registration you will receive a RepID from the CRA.
5. Once the representative, or the business he or she works for, is authorized by a client, he or she will be able to transact for that client.

Businesses

1. The owner, partner, director or officer authenticates using the eight-character alphanumeric access code from their Notice of Assessment and their postal code.
2. Get an epass. The security and protection of confidential client information are the CRA's highest priorities. As the epass provides access to confidential information, do not share your epass with anyone. For more information, see CRA epass services.
3. The owner, partner, director or officer recorded in our Business Number (BN) database registers the business as a representative. The CRA needs to ensure that only a person who has authority to represent the business undertakes the registration of the business for this service.  Therefore you will need to provide us with your BN as an identifier for this service. Upon registration of the business, you will receive a RepID from the CRA.
4. After the business itself is registered, the business owner, partner, director or officer will need to link employees to the business who have registered and received RepIDs. This is done through a process called "Associating RepIDs". This process identifies those employees that will be permitted to transact online for clients who authorize the business as their representative, and involves entering the RepID of the given employee(s). Alternatively, the business owner may assign this task to an administrator by associating an employee's RepID as a junior or senior administrator. An administrator will be useful for businesses with many employees. See FAQ's for more information.

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