CRA has revised its procedures for dealing with late ETA s. 156 elections

Respecting requests for acceptance of a late ETA s. 156 election, CRA stated:

At the end of January 2017, a memorandum to introduce new internal procedures for the review and processing of requests received by tax services offices to accept late-filed Form RC4616 was issued to the field offices. As a result of these new procedures, all requests should now be reviewed by audit staff to determine if the parties listed on Form RC4616 meet all of the legislated eligibility conditions for making or revoking the section 156 election and if the late-filed Form RC4616 should be accepted based upon the guidelines listed in GST/HST Policy Statement P-255.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 23 March 2017 CBA Commodity Taxes Roundtable, Q.11(a) under s. 156(4)(b)(ii).