Sending your federal return through NETFILE does not require an online account: certified software is enough. But everything that makes the job quick — picking up your access code, letting the software pull in the information the CRA already holds, getting the pre-filled return invitation announced for March 2027 — goes through your CRA account. And opening one can take 10 business days. So deal with it this fall.
What the CRA account changes when you file
NETFILE is the service the CRA uses to receive returns sent by software. So you do not file "inside" your account: you file with software, and the account feeds that software. Two things go through it.
The first is the NETFILE access code. It is printed on your most recent notice of assessment, which you will find in the Tax returns section of your account. The CRA is blunt about it: "Entering the access code is not mandatory", and the software can still send the return without it. What you lose is specific: without that code, you cannot use the information from your last return to confirm your identity, and the CRA has to verify your identity some other way. A first return, for its part, never has an access code.
The second is Auto-fill my return, the service that fills in part of your boxes with the information the CRA already has. If you pick that option, the software asks for your CRA account user ID and password. No account, no auto-fill.
On the calendar side, the tax software page says the NETFILE and ReFILE services are open from Monday, February 23, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. (Eastern time) until Friday, January 29, 2027. The opening date for the following season is not posted there yet — one more reason to be ready before it arrives.
Registering: two paths, and only one is instant
Registering for a CRA account is done with a CRA user ID and password, with a Sign-In Partner (your online banking sign-in) or with a provincial partner. Either way you have to prove who you are, and the two paths on offer do not take anything like the same time.
| Path | What it asks for | Delay |
|---|---|---|
| Document verification service | a mobile device with a camera and an accepted photo ID | immediate access |
| CRA security code | nothing more: the code is mailed to the address on file | 10 business days |
That second path is on its own the reason to do this work in the fall. A code mailed in the middle of tax season arrives after the day you meant to file.
Multi-factor authentication, every single sign-in
Multi-factor authentication is the second proof you are asked for after your password. The CRA puts it plainly: "You must enter a one-time passcode in addition to your password". That passcode changes with every sign-in, which makes a stolen password far less useful.
Three ways to receive it are offered: a third-party authentication app, a passcode grid supplied by the CRA, or your phone. At registration, the CRA prompts new registrants to enroll in 2 of them.
Turning on the second one is not a formality. It is what lets you in if you change phone numbers or lose the device carrying the app — an ordinary mishap, and one that never happens at a convenient moment.
With no recent return filed, registration stalls
To open the account, the CRA asks for amounts from your most recent assessed return, filed within the last 2 years. The amounts that count are the ones you originally reported, even if a later reassessment changed them.
The consequence is harsh for anyone who stopped filing: with no return filed for the current or previous tax year, registering with a CRA user ID and password is not possible until you file. The CRA allows an exception through a provincial partner for residents of Alberta and British Columbia, and for them alone.
March 2027: the pre-filled return invitation lands in the account
The CRA announces that starting March 2027, 1 million eligible individuals will get an invitation in their CRA account to use a pre-filled return to file their 2026 tax year return. Four conditions are set out: having filed a 2025 return by October 31, 2026; having a lower income and a simple, non-taxable situation; having a CRA account; and having set the correspondence preference in that account to electronic mail.
Two of those four conditions are settled inside the account, and nowhere else. This is the clearest case where opening your account in the fall changes something: with no account, the invitation has nowhere to land. We looked elsewhere at what this pre-filled return means for a Quebec taxpayer.
What about the Quebec return?
The CRA account covers the federal side only. The Quebec tax package published by the CRA says it in one sentence: "Since Quebec administers its own tax laws, residents may have to file a separate provincial return." The CRA's pre-filled return page, for its part, mentions neither Quebec nor Revenu Québec. Sorting out your CRA account therefore does not sort out the Quebec side, which has its own online services.
Three things to do this fall
- Sign in right now, even with nothing to do once you are there. An account that refuses your password is better discovered in October than the night before you file.
- Turn on a second multi-factor authentication option. A few minutes today, against a call to the phone service in the thick of the season.
- Check your correspondence preference if the March 2027 invitation concerns you: it has to be set to electronic mail.
The rest — what tax and contributions actually take out of your pay — takes seconds to check with the Quebec net salary calculator, while you are at it.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a CRA account to file through NETFILE?
No. NETFILE receives the return sent by certified software, and the software can send it without you signing in anywhere. The CRA account does something else: it is where you pick up the NETFILE access code printed on your most recent notice of assessment, and where Auto-fill my return gets its data, which asks for the account user ID and password. Without an account you can still file, but everything has to be keyed in by hand.
Is the NETFILE access code mandatory?
No. The CRA states that "entering the access code is not mandatory" and software can send the return without it. What you lose is that you cannot use the information from your last return to confirm your identity, so the CRA has to rely on other information. Someone filing a return for the first time has no access code at all.
How long does registering for a CRA account take?
It depends on the identity verification path. The document verification service, which needs a mobile device with a camera and an accepted photo ID, gives immediate access. The CRA security code, by contrast, is mailed within 10 business days to the address the CRA has on file.
I have not filed a return in years: can I still open an account?
Not with a CRA user ID and password. Registration asks for amounts from your most recent assessed return, filed within the last 2 years; with no return filed for the current or previous tax year, the CRA says you have to file first. Only residents of Alberta and British Columbia can register through a provincial partner without that.
Does a CRA account cover the Quebec return?
No, it covers the federal side only. The Quebec tax package published by the CRA notes that "since Quebec administers its own tax laws, residents may have to file a separate provincial return." The Quebec side goes through Revenu Québec's own online services, which are separate from the CRA account.