XML technical specifications

Data records filed must match our exact specifications. This allows us to process the data efficiently and avoids having to ask you for clarification.

These specifications are subject to change.

If you need to use any of the following special characters, please use a semi-colon after the characters as shown in the chart below:

Note: Although the above special characters are entered as 4 characters or more, they are considered to be only 1 character when entered in the content area of an XML tag.

Example: John Smith & Sons will be entered as John Smith & Sons

• You do not need to include any optional tags that are empty (i.e. which do not contain any information).
  

  Example: <annuitantSalutation/> is an optional empty tag.
  If you have no salutation to report in this tag, you do not need to include the tag in your submission.

• To properly capture international characters (for example, the French character é) in XML files, you must save your file using one of the following character sets:

  Windows-1252
  ISO-8859-1
  UTF-8

The first line of your file should describe the character encoding that you used to create your file.

Example: If you used ISO-8859-1, then you would start with
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

Programming requirements

• You must test your submission against the published schema before you send it to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
• The CRA will reject submissions with file format errors and all of the listings within those submissions will be considered not filed.
• Use only the space you need. For example:
  
  

  Annuitant's first name (required)
  The maximum field length is 40 characters
  
  <annuitantFirstName>Albert</annuitantFirstName>

  Do not put any extra spaces.

Things to remember

The procedures below are general guidelines to remember when filing your listings. When you submit your files using the ASCII standard or XML standard, remember these points:

• For CD-ROM or DVD-ROM listings, provide complete external labeling showing the financial institution and the specimen plan or fund number(s).
• When burning your CD-ROM, make sure the disk is finalized using an ISO 9660 encoding. This will allow the Registered Plans Directorate to read your disk. To test if it is readable, place the disk in a standard CD-ROM drive and try to access it. If you can access it then send in the disk; if not, then return the disk to your CD burner drive and follow your CD burning software manual to determine how to encode it in the ISO 9660 format.
• When burning your DVD-ROM, ensure the disk is finalized using the UDF format. This will allow the Directorate to read your disk.
• You can include more than one listing per CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.
• CD-ROMs or DVD-ROMs will not be returned.
• The prescribed technical specifications will not be waived.
• The RSP specimen plan number is made up of the acronym RSP, followed by a space and a 7 digit number (for example, RSP 0123-456). A hyphen must be included between the fourth and fifth number. Note that if a specimen plan number was approved as RSP 123-456, the specimen plan number that must be reported in your filing is RSP 0123-456. Any number with added addenda identifications, such as L1, should not be included in the specimen plan number.
• The RIF specimen fund number is made up of the acronym RIF, followed by a space and a 4 digit number (for example, RIF 9876). If a specimen fund number was approved as RIF 123, the specimen fund number that must be reported in your filing is RIF 0123. Any number with added addenda identifications, such as L1, should not be included in the specimen fund number.
• For CD-ROM or DVD-ROM listings, each specimen plan or fund that is filed must have a form T550, Application for Registration of RSP's, ESP's or RIF's Under Section 146, 146.1 and 146.3 of the Income Tax Act, fully completed or a covering letter with the signature of an authorized officer of the issuer or carrier who affirms that: (1) the listed RSP or RIF annuitants have requested registration of their plans or funds; (2) the contracts or arrangements listed comply with the provisions of section 146 or 146.3 of the Income Tax Act; and (3) the plans or funds conform in all respects with the specimen plan or fund approved by us and identified on the list. The letter must also state the number of contracts or arrangements listed for each specimen plan or fund, including the assigned specimen number and name.
• The contract field must be unique for each annuitant under a specimen plan or fund. Once an account is closed, the contract number may not be reused in the future.
• The addresses provided in the listings must be those of the annuitants.
• If your CD-ROM or DVD-ROM is encrypted with a password, please provide us with the password under a separate cover.
• For Canadian addresses, the fields for the city, province and postal code must be valid and comply with Canada Post's parameters. Under the Canada Post addressing guidelines, note the following:
  1. Regarding the name for the municipality (provided to Canada Post), the official municipality name, the official abbreviation of the municipality name or an official alternate name should be used in the city field and should not be translated. (For example: St. John's cannot be translated, Trois-Rivières is not Three Rivers, Saint-Hyacinthe is not St Hyacinthe and Dollard-Des-Ormeaux is not DDO)
  2. The province must always be presented using the official two-letter symbol in the province field.
  3. The postal code must be the one for the city and province in the postal code field.

For more information on addressing guidelines, please visit the Canada Post's Web site at www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGaddress-e.asp

Before submitting your listing to the Registered Plans Directorate, please make sure that it follows the ASCII standard or XML standard and the guidelines listed on our Web site.

The CRA is responsible for protecting information after it has been received, and has appropriate security measures to make sure that information is protected within the CRA. There is no legal requirement to submit encrypted media to the CRA; however, we strongly recommend encryption with WinZip (version 11.2 or higher).

Your submission must meet the CRA guidelines and specifications as stated in these pages. If your submission does not meet these requirements, it will not be reviewed. You will then have to resubmit your registration listings in the proper format.

Please note that we will not return any CD-ROM or DVD-ROM submissions. However, we could consider a request to return a submission if exceptional circumstances existed. The CRA uses proper security measures when returning submissions containing sensitive information.

Date modified:

2013-05-02