Can I receive online notifications from the CRA instead of through the mail?

Yes. If you’re registered to use the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) My Account service, you can choose their “online mail” service to receive some of your CRA mail online (into My Account), rather than waiting for it to come by mail.

Once you sign up, you’ll receive an email notification from the CRA whenever you have new mail. You’ll need to log into your My Account to view it.

Some important things to note:

  • You won’t see the actual information in your email – you’ll receive an email notification that you have new mail online in your My Account to view.
  • You won’t receive any links in these emails that open your information.
  • The CRA will no longer mail a paper copy of your documents (such as your notice of assessment (NOA)) to you. However, if you need a paper copy of your documents, you can print or download them from My Account.

Note: You’ll need to register for CRA’s online mail service if you want to view your notice of assessment (NOA) in H&R Block’s tax software using the CRA’s Express NOA service. The Express NOA service lets you view your NOA in the tax software after you NETFILE your return.

If you register to receive your correspondence online, you might receive the following documents (if applicable):

  • Notices of assessment (NOA) or reassessment
  • Benefit notices and slips
  • T1 adjustment notices
  • Instalment payment reminder
  • Letters asking for information and documentation (for some programs)

Anything not listed above will continue to be printed and mailed to you by the CRA.

Note: You will also receive an email notification when important changes are made to your account (such as a change to your mailing address).

There are a couple of ways to sign up for the CRA online mail service. First, however, you’ll need to register with My Account on the CRA website (if you haven’t already). Then, you can choose to do any of the following things to sign up for online mail:

  • Log into your My Account, under Related services , select Notification preferences, and enter your email address
  • Use the MyCRA mobile app and select Manage online mail
  • Register when you prepare your 2020 return. To do this in H&R Block’s tax software, follow these steps:
    1. On the PREPARE tab, click the REQUIRED icon. You'll find yourself here:



    2. Click the CRA questions link (if you’re a resident of Québec, click the CRA/Revenu Québec questions link).

    3. Enter your email address* into the designated field of the tax software and agree to the terms and conditions.

Once you sign up for the online mail service, the CRA will send you an email to confirm your registration.

*Important: Make sure you provide your personal email address (one which you use regularly) to protect your privacy. It is your responsibility to make sure that the CRA has your correct email address.

If you don’t want to receive online mail, simply leave the email fields on the CRA Questions (or the CRA/Revenu Québec questions) page blank. This page is found under the REQUIRED section on the PREPARE tab. You will continue to receive your documents from the CRA by regular mail.

Note: If you registered to receive online mail but no longer want to receive it, log into your My Account. Under your Personal profile, remove your email address from the Notification preferences section.

If you signed up for the CRA’s online mail service while preparing your 2020 tax return in H&R Block’s tax software but received an error stating your email is invalid and can't NETFILE your return:

  1. Check to make sure that you entered your email in the correct format (example: test@gmail.com) on both the email fields on the CRA Questions page (or CRA/Revenu Québec questions page, if you’re a Québec resident). You can find this page under the REQUIRED icon on the PREPARE tab in the software.

  2. If your email was entered correctly and you’re still getting an invalid email error, it could be because the CRA only accepts email addresses that meet the following requirements. The email address:
    • Must contain only one @ sign
    • Must not have a period {.} next to the @ sign
    • Must not start or end with a period {.}
    • Must not contain two adjacent periods {..}
    • Must contain a character before and after the @ sign
    • Must not contain a special character {slash (/), underscore (_), exclamation mark (!), etc.) before and after the @ sign

If your email address is one that isn't accepted by the CRA, you can either provide an alternate email that meets the CRA requirements listed above or remove your email address from the CRA Questions (or CRA/Revenu Québec questions) page completely, to NETFILE your return.