The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will soon be conducting its seventh annual Office Audit Letter Campaign.

 The letter writing campaign is designed to facilitate behavioural changes among a selected taxpayer population by providing the selected population with relevant information in order to improve their understanding of their current or past reporting requirements and guidance on how to correct any common errors.

 In January 2016, the CRA will send approximately 30,000 “intent-to-audit” letters to selected groups of individual taxpayers and business owners who claim consecutive business or rental losses or who are employees claiming employment expenses on line 229 of their tax return. The objective of the campaign is to encourage letter recipients to review and where applicable correct their tax affairs by accessing their account on-line through My Account, submitting in paper format any required changes using Form T1-ADJ - T1 Adjustment Request, or through the Voluntary Disclosures Program.

 CRA’s emphasis is on helping individuals and small businesses better understand their tax obligations, which in turn increases future voluntary compliance, protects the government’s tax base, and utilizes resources within the CRA more effectively.

If you or your clients have questions about the CRA’s Office Audit Letter Campaign or need help making changes to previously filed returns, go to www.cra.gc.ca/lettercampaign. You can also call the individual income tax enquiries line at 1-800-959-8281 or the business enquiries line at 1-800-959-5525.