NETFILE – Overview

NETFILE is an electronic tax-filing service that allows you to send your individual income tax and benefit return directly to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) using the Internet and a NETFILE-certified software product. It streamlines the tax-filing process and offers the following benefits:

• It is secure and confidential.
• File your returns directly from one of the NETFILE-certified products available using the NETFILE webservice.
• No more need to upload your “.tax” file.
• Refunds are issued faster (in most cases, with direct deposit, you can receive your refund in as little as eight business days).
• It is more accurate (because the CRA doesn’t re-key the information, there is less chance of errors).
• You don’t have to mail a paper return.
• You don’t have to send in receipts, unless the CRA asks for them at a later date.
• You get immediate confirmation that the CRA has received your tax return.

Security of personal information

The CRA accepts responsibility for the security of information once the CRA has received it, and the CRA takes precautions to ensure the confidentiality of data sent using the NETFILE web service. Throughout the session, the CRA takes extensive measures to make sure that security is maintained.

The CRA is also responsible for making sure personal and financial information is sent in an encrypted format between the taxpayers’ computer and its web servers. This ensures that computer hackers and other Internet users can’t alter or view the data being sent between the taxpayer and the CRA. The CRA uses sophisticated security techniques to protect this website. State-of-the-art encryption technology and security procedures protect your personal information at all times.

While every possible effort has been made to ensure the safety and integrity of transactions on the CRA website, the Internet is a public network and is therefore outside of the CRA’s control. In the event of a system failure, taxpayer data is not accessible to outside persons or systems. Internally, NETFILE has safeguards in place to make sure that there is no unauthorized access to data.