Authorize representatives

1. Who can be a representative?
2. How to authorize a representative.
3. What types of authorizations are available to representatives?
4. Which types of business accounts can an authorized representative have online access to?
5. How to authorize representatives for a specific time period.

Manage existing representatives

1. How to add an account to an existing representative.
2. How to view the effective and expiry date of a current authorization.
3. How to cancel a representative or an authorization.
4. How to replace a delegated authority representative

View representative's transactions

1. What are representative's transactions?
2. How to view representative's transactions
3. How to change the retrieval timeframe

Authorize representatives

1. Who can be a representative?

A representative can be an individual, an employee, a group, a firm, or an individual of a firm.

For an individual, an employee, or an individual of a firm to be authorized as a representative, they will need to register through the "Represent a Client" link on the CRA Web site to obtain a RepID number.

For a firm, such as a tax services business, to be authorized as a representative, they will need to use their Business Number to register through the "Represent a Client" link on the CRA Web site. When you authorize a firm as your representative, you authorize anyone from that firm to access your business account(s).

For a group to be authorized as a representative, they will need to register through the "Represent a Client" link on the CRA Web site to obtain a GroupID number.

2. How to authorize a representative.

Before you can authorize a representative, you need to have either a 'RepID' (representative identifier), a 'Business Number', or a 'GroupID' (group identifier) for the individual, firm, or group you want as your business representative.

Select 'Authorize a representative' from the 'Authorize or manage representatives' page. Follow steps 1 through 3 on the 'Authorize a representative' page.

3. What types of authorizations are available to representatives?

Level 1 allows the CRA to disclose information about the business account(s) to the authorized representative either in person, by telephone, in writing, or online through the "Represent a Client" link on the CRA main page.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Viewing correspondence
• Viewing the business's account balance
• Viewing the business's address

Level 2 allows the CRA to disclose information about the business account(s) and to accept or initiate changes to the account(s) from the authorized representative either in person, by telephone, in writing, or online through the "Represent a Client" link on the CRA main page.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Filing a return
• Making online requests
• Requesting CPP/EI rulings
• Registering a formal dispute (an appeal or a notice of objection)

Level 3 allows the CRA to disclose information about the business account(s), to accept or initiate changes to the account(s), and to provide signing authority for Form RC59, Business Consent Form, and other forms/documents requiring a signature. An authorized representative with Level 3 access is a delegated authority representative and must have an individual RepID.

This includes but is not limited to:

• Filing a return
• Making online requests
• Requesting CPP/EI rulings
• Registering a formal dispute (an appeal or a notice of objection)
• Adding, modifying, or cancelling an authorized representative and delegated authority representative through the My Business Account service.

A delegated authority representative must be authorized for the appropriate accounts to have the ability to add/modify/cancel an authorization or a representative.

• If the delegated authority representative has authority for 'All accounts,' they can add/modify/cancel all authorizations or representatives.
• If the delegated authority representative has authority for a 'Program' (a specific program and all of its accounts, such as Payroll (RP) RP0001, RP0002, etc.), they can add and modify all authorizations and representatives under that program. They can only cancel a representative if that representative has access to that specific program only.
• If the delegated authority representative has authority for an 'Account' (a specific account, such as GST/HST (RT) RT0001), they can add and modify the authorizations and representatives under that specific account. They can only cancel a representative if that representative has access to that specific account only.

4. Which types of business accounts can an authorized representative have online access to?

A representative can be authorized for online access for the following business accounts:

• RT – GST/HST
• RP – Payroll
• RC – Corporation Income Tax
• RD – Excise Duty
• RE – Excise Tax
• RN – Excise Tax on Insurance Premiums
• RG – Air Travellers Security Charge
• SL – Softwood Lumber Products Export Charge

A representative can be authorized at the following levels:

• 'All accounts' – all accounts under the Business Number, such as RP0001, RP0002, RT0001, RC0001, etc. If you choose the 'All accounts' level you cannot choose a program for the same Business Number since choosing this level means all programs under it.
• 'Program' – a specific program and all of its accounts, such as Payroll (RP) RP0001, RP0002, etc.
• 'Account' – a specific account, such as GST/HST (RT) RT0004.

It is important to note that if you authorize the representative at the 'All accounts' level, you are also authorizing them access by telephone, in person, and in writing for all accounts that are under your Business Number, including those not listed above.

5. How to authorize representatives for a specific time period.

The authorization begins on the day you add the information to the 'Authorize a representative' link. To authorize for a specific time period, you can select an expiry date during this process in a Day/Month/Year format. If you do not enter an expiry date, the authorization will be valid indefinitely or until an expiry date is entered or the authorization is cancelled.

Manage existing representatives

1. How to add an account to an existing representative.

Select the 'View details' link on the 'Authorize or manage representatives' page for the representative you want to add another account to. Select the 'Add authorization' button at the bottom of the 'View details' page and then follow the steps.

Note that if the new authorization conflicts with the existing authorization, an error will display. You will be asked to cancel the current authorization and add a new authorization to include all the accounts you want the representative to have access to. If you are a delegated authority representative, you may not have the authority to add a new authorization.

2. How to view the effective and expiry date of a current authorization

The effective date of an authorization is the day the information was entered. This date cannot be changed. You cannot view the effective date of an authorization for an existing representative in My Business Account. To find out the effective date of a representative's authorization, contact your tax services office. If you are authorizing a representative online, the representative will have access to 'all tax years' regardless of the effective date of authorization.

The expiry date of an authorization can be viewed on the 'Authorize or manage representatives' page by selecting the 'View details' link under the representative you want to view.

3. How to cancel a representative or an authorization

On the 'Authorize or manage representatives' page, select the 'View details' link under the representative. This will list the program(s), tax years (all), authorization level, and expiry date of the representative.

If you want to cancel the authorization for a specific account under this representative, select the 'Cancel authorization' link under the specific account and follow the steps until the cancellation of this account is complete.

If you want to cancel the authorization for all the accounts listed under this representative, select the 'Cancel this representative' button in the bottom right corner of the 'View details' page and follow the steps until the cancellation is complete.

If you are a delegated authority representative, you may not have the authority to cancel an authorization or representative.

4. How to replace a delegated authority representative

On the 'Authorize or manage representatives' page, select the 'Replace delegated authority representative' link either in the middle of the page or on the left sidebar.

This action can only be performed by a delegated authority representative that has authority for 'All accounts.' Once you agree in Step 2, you will no longer have access to the account(s) as a delegated authority representative.

View representative's transactions

1. What are representative's transactions?

Representative's transactions are transactions done on the My Business Account Web site that have been performed by your authorized representative(s) for the business account(s) within their authority. The online transactions will be listed when an authorized representative has viewed or made changes to account information.

Representative's transactions include but are not limited to:

• filing a return
• viewing bank information
• viewing or changing Operating Name
• making online requests
• authorizing or Managing representative information

2. How to view representative's transactions

Select the 'View representative's transactions' link on the 'Authorize or manage representatives' page. This page will display a list of all active and expired authorized representatives for your business.

If you are a business owner, or a delegated authority representative authorized for 'all accounts', select the 'view transaction details' link to display the online transactions performed by that authorized representative.

If you are a delegated authority representative authorized for specific account(s), select the 'view transaction details' link and a new screen may display with a list of accounts that are within your specific authorization. You can now select 'View transaction details' to display the online transactions performed for those accounts by the selected authorized representative.

3. How to change the retrieval timeframe

The display of all online transactions will default to within the 'last 7 days'. This can be changed to select online transactions that have been performed over the 'Last 30 days', 'Last 180 days', 'Last 365 days' or 'All transactions'. Selecting 'All transactions' will display only the transactions for which the authorized representative has added or made changes to account information and has confirmed by selecting 'I agree'.