Goodbye Government Cheques

In a move towards eliminating paper cheques, businesses in Canada are now being asked to complete two functions through the Represent a Client portal. Businesses will now have the option of both pre-authorized debit and direct deposit for their dealings with CRA.

Pre-Authorized Debits

Effective October 20, 2014 business owners are able to elect to authorize CRA to withdraw pre-determined amounts form their bank account on a pre-determined date. The options available are numerous:

• Post-dated or recurring payments
• Multiple pre-authorized debits agreements for various payment types
• Varying payment frequencies from one-time payments through to bi-weekly remittances
• Full transaction history available through Represent A Client

Direct Deposit

While CRA wants your payments faster and on-time, they are also refunding amounts electronically through direct deposit. Business owners and their representatives (with a level 2 authority) are able to start, update or cancel direct deposit from CRA.

It is important to note that direct deposit will soon become a requirement as CRA intends to move fully to electronic banking and away from government cheques by April 2016.