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CRA & compliance

How to authorize your accountant with the CRA

Before your accountant can look at your CRA account, answer a letter or correct a return online, you have to authorize them. The CRA offers several ways to do this, and they differ in speed and in the kind of access they give. This article walks through the choices in order: what authorization allows, which level to pick, the fastest online route, what happens when your accountant sends the request instead, the paper form and its limits, and how to check or end access later.

Sora Accounting & Tax · General information · Editorial policy
Updated · 6 min read

Three routes to authorizing an accountant, fastest first

A flow from adding an accountant online, to confirming a request they submit, to the offline paper form, and finally reviewing or cancelling access.

Visual labels: Add them online; Confirm their request; Mail Form AUT-01; Review or cancel.

What to take away

  • Adding your accountant yourself in your CRA account is the fastest route; a mailed form gives offline access only.
  • If your accountant submits the request, you generally have 10 business days to confirm it in your CRA account.
  • Choose the lowest level and narrowest scope that covers the work, and review the list whenever someone changes roles.

What authorization lets your accountant do

When you authorize a representative, you let that person or business deal with the CRA for you on personal tax, business tax, non-resident tax, trust or registered plan matters. Depending on the level you choose, they can view your tax information and assessments, get information about your business accounts and update some account details. The CRA lists accountants, bookkeepers, spouses, other family members, lawyers and executors among the people you can authorize.

This is different from simply giving your accountant your records. Without authorization, the CRA will generally not discuss your account with them, and a letter that needs a quick reply can stall while you arrange it. Setting authorization up before you need it is usually cheaper than doing it under a deadline.

Decide the account type, level and scope

On a personal account there are two levels. Level 1 lets the representative see information only. Level 2 also lets them make certain account changes. For a business there is a third: level 3 is delegated authority, which is almost the same as the owner’s access and allows that person to authorize other representatives. Level 3 can only be requested using a representative identifier, called a RepID.

A business also chooses scope: the entire business number, a type of program such as all payroll accounts or all GST/HST accounts, or one specific program account. A bookkeeper who only handles payroll remittances, for example, may need level 1 or level 2 on the payroll accounts and nothing else. Ask your accountant what they need for the engagement, then grant that and no more. You are responsible for choosing the level.

The fastest route: add your accountant yourself

The CRA calls this the fastest way. For a personal account, sign in to your CRA account, open My Account, select Profile, then Add in the section for authorized representatives, read the notes and follow the prompts. For a business, open My Business Account, select Profile and add a representative in the matching section. You must already be registered for a CRA account, and for the business route you must already have added My Business Account.

Have the details ready before you start, because the form asks you to identify the representative. Ask your accountant for their RepID, which is the identifier given to everyone who registers with the CRA’s Represent a Client service. If you are not yet registered for a CRA account, the Sora guide to registering walks through that first step, and it is worth doing before tax season rather than during it.

If your accountant sends the request, confirm it

The second-fastest route starts with your accountant. A representative with a RepID can submit an authorization request in Represent a Client. You then confirm or deny it in your CRA account, under Profile and the pending authorizations link. The CRA’s Confirm my Representative service describes this as a two-step check that keeps control with you.

Watch the clock. For individuals and business owners, a request must be confirmed or denied within 10 business days, or it is cancelled and your accountant has to submit a new one. You can turn on email notifications in your account to be told when a request arrives. Businesses can also receive requests that an accountant submits from certified tax software, and those are confirmed in My Business Account in the same way.

When you cannot sign in: other individual options

An individual who has no CRA account has an alternative. You can give your accountant information from a notice of assessment that was sent at least six months ago, and sign a certification page that your accountant submits through Represent a Client. The CRA may still phone you to verify the request. If neither route works, your accountant may be prompted to obtain signed consent and submit it as part of the request.

Sole proprietors who want the same representative for personal and business taxes may not have to confirm in My Business Account if certain conditions are met, such as the representative already being authorized on the individual account and the social insurance number being linked to the business account. The CRA generally processes those within five business days. Your accountant will know which case applies to you.

The paper form gives offline access only

Form AUT-01, Authorize a Representative for Offline Access, is the slowest method. It lets the representative deal with the CRA by phone, mail, fax and in person, but the CRA states plainly that it does not give online access. You must complete and sign a separate form for each representative, and send it to the tax centre listed on the form within six months of signing it.

That limit matters in practice. If your accountant needs to see an assessment, reply to a letter electronically or file an adjustment online, a paper form alone will not be enough. Use it only when the online routes are not available to you, and tell your accountant exactly which method you used.

Check, change and cancel access

Authorization does not expire on its own. A representative keeps access until you or they cancel it, or until an expiry date that was included in the request passes. It also does not end when the CRA learns of your death, unless the person was your legal representative. If you want a time limit, ask for an expiry date when the authorization is set up.

In your Profile you can view the representatives on your account, modify or delete one, and see the online transactions a representative made. A list of deleted or expired representatives is kept as well. Removing a representative online ends their access immediately. The alternatives are your representative cancelling in Represent a Client, a phone call to the CRA, or Form AUT-01X mailed within six months of signing. Review the list whenever you switch accountants or a bookkeeper leaves.

What to have ready and common mistakes

You are responsible for giving your representative the information they need. Depending on the account, that can include your name, address and date of birth, your social insurance number, your business number, and your notice of assessment, return or other tax documents. If you do not yet have a business number, you will need one before you can authorize someone on a business account.

The common mistakes are practical ones. People grant level 1 and then wonder why a correction cannot be made, let the 10-business-day window lapse, authorize the wrong scope for a payroll or GST/HST account, or forget to remove a former provider. Talk through the level, scope and expiry with your accountant before you click, and use the representative’s own RepID rather than sharing your sign-in details.

Sources & editorial notes

Sources checked October 24, 2026. The examples are illustrative and provide general information. Discuss how the guidance applies to your circumstances with your accountant.

Rules and guidance can change. Use the current official source and confirm the treatment for your facts. To flag an error, contact Sora.