Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
The CRA phone number for personal tax is 1-800-959-8281. Benefits and credits use 1-800-387-1193, and business enquiries use 1-800-959-5525. The lines are open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern. Have your Social Insurance Number and last notice of assessment ready. Revenue Canada is the old name for the same agency.
What is the CRA phone number for your question?
The Canada Revenue Agency phone number depends on your question: 1-800-959-8281 for personal taxes, 1-800-387-1193 for benefits and credits, and 1-800-959-5525 for business enquiries. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern. This is the same agency many people still call Revenue Canada.
- Decide which line fits. Returns and refunds go to 1-800-959-8281, benefit payments go to 1-800-387-1193, and a business number goes to 1-800-959-5525.
- Convert the hours to your own time zone. The 8 am to 8 pm Eastern window is 5 am to 5 pm on the Pacific coast.
- Try the automated service on the personal and benefits numbers first. It gives refund status, balances and RRSP and TFSA room without waiting for an agent.
- Gather your Social Insurance Number, or your business number, plus your notice of assessment.
- When an agent answers, give your name, the tax year and one clear question.
- Write down the date, the time and the agent's name or ID before you hang up.
Callers in the territories and outside Canada use different numbers, which are in the second table below.
Which number should you call?
Dial the wrong line and you’ll lose a good chunk of your morning. Some older web pages list 1-800-387-1193 as a business line. The CRA’s own contact page shows it for benefits and credits, and shows 1-800-959-5525 for business enquiries.
| Your question | Number |
|---|---|
| Personal income tax, returns, refunds | 1-800-959-8281 |
| Benefits and credits | 1-800-387-1193 |
| Business enquiries | 1-800-959-5525 |
“Revenue Canada” is the old name many people still search for. Today the agency is the Canada Revenue Agency, and these are its lines. Callers in Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and callers outside Canada, use different numbers.
| Where you call from | Personal tax | Benefits and credits | Business |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada, except the territories | 1-800-959-8281 | 1-800-387-1193 | 1-800-959-5525 |
| Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut (867 area code) | 1-866-426-1527 | 1-866-426-1527 | 1-866-841-1876 |
| Outside Canada and the US, collect through an operator | 1-613-940-8495 | Not listed | 1-613-940-8497 |
Which other CRA phone numbers do people need?
The contact page lists many special lines. These are the ones readers ask about most, with the hours the CRA shows.
| Reason for the call | Number | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Pay personal tax debt over time | 1-888-863-8657 | Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern |
| Ontario benefits and credits (Ontario Trillium Benefit and others) | 1-877-627-6645 | Monday to Friday, 8:15 am to 5 pm Eastern |
| Payroll deductions | 1-800-959-5525 | Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern |
| Request to file or demand to file letters | 1-800-448-0444 | Monday to Friday, 6:45 am to 7:30 pm Eastern |
| TTY (teletypewriter) | 1-800-665-0354 | Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern |
The benefits line covers the Canada Child Benefit, the GST/HST credit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, according to the contact page.
When is the CRA phone line open?
The CRA contact page lists the enquiry lines Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern. They are closed on weekends and public holidays. The hours are Eastern, so check your own clock before you plan the call.
| Your time zone | Open from | Until |
|---|---|---|
| Newfoundland | 9:30 am | 9:30 pm |
| Atlantic | 9 am | 9 pm |
| Eastern | 8 am | 8 pm |
| Central | 7 am | 7 pm |
| Mountain | 6 am | 6 pm |
| Pacific | 5 am | 5 pm |
The automated service on the personal and benefits numbers runs every day from 6 am to 3 am Eastern and shuts for maintenance between 3 am and 6 am. It gives your balance, refund status, RRSP and TFSA room, and the dates and amounts of benefit payments, so many questions never need an agent.
If you think someone is using your CRA account, the individual fraud line is 1-833-995-2336, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm. The contact page lists no time zone for that line. The TTY number is 1-800-267-7622.
What should you have ready when you call?
Agents must confirm who you are before they discuss anything. Gather these first:
- Your Social Insurance Number, or the business number for a company
- Your full name, date of birth and address
- A notice of assessment or a copy of the return you filed
Add a pen, the letter you’re calling about and any slips. If you want someone else, such as an accountant, to speak for you, they need authorization first. Set that up with the CRA first, or your call will end with a lot of “I can’t discuss that.”
Do you need to call at all?
Often not. Sign in to My Account and you’ll see your return status, your balance and your RRSP and TFSA room. The automated phone service answers many of the same questions without a wait.
A few calls can’t be dodged: a payment plan, an audit letter, an error on your notice of assessment. Phone for those, then confirm in writing. Our page on dealing with the CRA covers letters, audits and payments if you want the background first.
A worked example before you dial
Say you’re an Ontario employee who earned $60,000 and you believe the refund on your notice looks low. Our income tax calculator shows federal and Ontario tax of $8,320.50 on that pay, using only the basic credits. If your slips show $9,500 withheld, you’d expect roughly $1,180 back. If the notice says $400, you have something concrete to ask about, and a list of claims you may have missed.
The tax refund calculator does the same job for a different mix of slips. If the gap is your child benefit, run the Canada Child Benefit calculator and compare it with your payments. The tax credits calculator covers federal credits you might have skipped, and the tax instalments calculator helps if you’re being asked for regular payments. Those tools give estimates, not the CRA’s answer, and they leave out claims like deductions and refundable credits.
When is the best time to call?
Mornings and the days after a deadline tend to be the busiest, so if your question can wait, try a quieter midweek slot. Pick a time when you can stay on the line, because hanging up and redialling puts you back at the end of the queue.
What should you say in the first minute?
Agents hear the same opening all day, and the calls that go fastest follow a simple pattern. Give your name, say which tax year you're calling about, then ask one clear question. "I'm calling about my 2025 return. The notice of assessment shows a $400 refund and I expected more. Can you tell me which amounts were changed?" That's far easier to act on than "my refund is wrong."
If the agent has to look something up, ask roughly how long it will take and then let them work. A second question in the middle of a search only slows things down. When you get an answer, repeat it back in your own words: "So you'll reassess the return and I should get a new notice in the mail?" A misunderstanding is much easier to fix while you're still on the line. Before you hang up, write down the date, the time and the agent's name or ID.
What if you can't get through?
Lines get busy, especially around the filing deadline. If the wait is long or the call drops, you have other routes. My Account shows your balance and return status without any hold music, and the automated service on the personal and benefits numbers gives the same details by phone, with the hours listed above.
The one thing to watch is a date printed on a letter. If a notice gives you a deadline to respond, don't let a long queue push you past it. Read the letter for how to reply, answer in writing before the date, and keep a copy for your own file. You can always phone later to confirm that the CRA received it.
Mistakes that make calls go badly
Calling with half the paperwork is the first one. If the agent asks for a figure from your return and you don’t have it, you’ll be calling again.
The second is asking three questions at once. Start with the one that matters most, write down the date, the agent’s name or ID and what they said. If you get a different answer next time, that note helps.
The third is trusting a caller who contacts you. If someone phones claiming to be from the CRA and demands payment, threatens arrest or asks for banking details, hang up. Then call one of the numbers above yourself and ask whether anything is on your file. You dial them, not the other way round. The CRA publishes its own guidance on scams on canada.ca, so when in doubt, stop and verify.
What to do right after the call
The call is only half the job. As soon as you hang up, spend two minutes on your notes while the conversation is fresh. Write down the date, the time, the agent's name or ID, the number you dialled and what you were told in plain words. If the agent said a notice would arrive in the mail, add a reminder to check your mailbox and My Account in a couple of weeks.
- Put the notes next to the letter or return you called about.
- If you were told to send something in writing, do it before any date printed on a letter.
- If the answer surprised you, read it back to yourself and decide whether a second call would clear it up.
Notes like these are useful if you call again, because you can give the next agent the date of the last call and what was said.
Matching your question to the right route
Before you dial, sort your question into one of three groups. A balance, a refund status or your RRSP and TFSA room is something the automated service and My Account already show, so there is no reason to wait for a person. A payment plan, an audit letter or an error on a notice of assessment is a job for an agent, so book a quiet hour and have your papers ready.
Take Nadia's missing benefit payment from above. The dates and amounts of benefit payments are on the automated service, so she can check them first. If the payment is not listed, she calls the benefits number and asks one clear question with her SIN ready. That order saves her a long wait for something the menu could have told her.
CRA contact number or online services: which is faster?
A CRA contact number is the slowest route for a simple question. The automated service on the personal and benefits lines runs from 6 am to 3 am Eastern and gives your balance, refund status, RRSP and TFSA room. My Account shows the same details online, so check there before you spend an hour on hold.
Wait times are hardest to predict around the filing deadline, and a dropped call puts you back at the end of the queue. Pick a quiet midweek slot and stay on the line. An agent will not discuss your tax information until you confirm who you are, and an accountant who calls for you needs authorization on file.
Revenue Canada is no longer a separate agency, and no separate Revenue Canada line exists today. A letter from the CRA tells you how to reply and by when, so answer in writing before that date and phone later only to confirm it arrived.
Where this information comes from
Phone numbers and hours come from the CRA contact page, which shows a date modified of 9 November 2026. We checked it on 12 November 2026. No government body has reviewed or endorsed what you read here.
Frequently asked questions
What is the CRA phone number for personal taxes?
Call 1-800-959-8281 for personal income tax, returns, refunds and your tax account. It works from anywhere in Canada except the territories. The line is open Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern, and is closed on weekends and public holidays.
What is the Canada Revenue Agency phone number for businesses?
Business enquiries, payroll deductions and GST/HST help use 1-800-959-5525, according to the CRA contact page. Benefits and credits use a different line, 1-800-387-1193, which some older web pages wrongly list as a business number. Hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern.
Is Revenue Canada the same as the CRA?
Yes. Revenue Canada is the old name that many people still search for. The agency is now the Canada Revenue Agency, and the numbers on this page are its current lines for personal tax, benefits and business enquiries. No separate Revenue Canada phone line exists today.
What time does the CRA phone line close?
The enquiry lines close at 8 pm Eastern. That is 5 pm Pacific, 6 pm Mountain, 7 pm Central and 9 pm Atlantic, and 9:30 pm in Newfoundland. They are closed on weekends and public holidays. The automated service runs longer, from 6 am to 3 am Eastern.
What is the CRA phone number from the territories or outside Canada?
In Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut (867 area code), personal callers use 1-866-426-1527 and business callers use 1-866-841-1876. From outside Canada and the US, call collect through an operator: 1-613-940-8495 for personal tax and 1-613-940-8497 for business. Hours are the same as the main lines, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm Eastern.
How do I know a call is really from the CRA?
You can't tell from the caller. If someone calls and demands payment, threatens arrest or asks for banking details, hang up and phone a number from canada.ca yourself. To report that someone is using your account, the individual fraud line is 1-833-995-2336, Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm.
- Dealing with the CRA: letters, audits and payments
Dealing with the CRA: what to do when a letter arrives, how a review differs from an audit, how My Account helps, and what to do if you can't pay