When can you expect your refund for 2016?

It is CRA’s goal to issue a notice of assessment, including any applicable refund, within:

• two weeks of receiving your electronically filed return; or
• eight weeks of receiving your paper filed return.

These timelines are only valid for returns received on or before their filing due dates.

We may take longer to process your return if we select it for a more detailed review. For more information, go to Review of your tax return by the CRA.

If you choose to use direct deposit, you could get your refund faster.

To find out about the status of your 2016 refund, go to How you can check the status of your refund.

Why haven’t you received your refund for 2016?

We may keep some or all of your refund if you:

• owe or are about to owe a balance
• have a garnishment order under the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act
• have certain other outstanding federal, provincial, or territorial government debts, such as student loans, employment insurance and social assistance benefit overpayments, immigration loans, and training allowance overpayments
• have any outstanding GST/HST returns from a sole proprietorship or partnership
• have a refund of $2 or less

How you can check the status of your refund

Go online

• Use My Account
• Use the MyCRA mobile application

Call

• Telerefund at 1-800-959-1956

To use Telerefund be ready to give:

• your social insurance number;
• your month and year of birth; and
• the total income you entered on line 150 of your 2016 return.

After you filed your return, wait eight weeks to call us for an update on the receipt of your return or status of your refund.

Can you transfer your refund?

To your instalment account

You can ask us to transfer your refund to your instalment account for 2017 by:

• selecting this option when filing electronically
• attaching a note to your paper return

We will transfer your full refund to your instalment account and consider this payment to be received on the date we assess your return.

To another person

You cannot ask us to transfer your refund to pay another person’s amount owing.

Do you get interest on your refund?

The Canada Revenue Agency will pay you compound daily interest on your tax refund for 2016. The calculation will start on the latest of the following three dates:

• May 31^st, 2017
• the 31^st day after you file your return
• the day after you overpaid your taxes