You might see some delays in receiving a tax return this year if you opened a First Home Saving Account in 2023.
Multiple Canadians on social media who opened an FHSA reported their returns are taking longer than normal, being told by the CRA it’s due to a “processing error” at the federal department.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayer’s Federation, isn’t pulling punches about what he thinks the root cause of that is.
“[The CRA’s] doing a bad job here,” he told CityNews. “There’s no other way around it. This is incompetence from the CRA and from the government at large, because people expect to get their own money back at tax refund time.”
Terrazzano says especially as Canadians are stretched thin right now from the cost of living increases, they need their refunds on time.
“People need this money. Times are really tough for people, and getting their own money back can really go a long way to just help pay for the day-to-day costs of necessities,” he said.
“There is the price of hamburger meat, whether it’s the cost of a jug of milk, whether it’s home heating bills, people are worried about their mortgage payments going through the roof. People are stretched thin and people deserve to get their own money back at tax refund time.”
The deadline for filing 2023 taxes is April 30.
–With files from Ridley Wilson
