When will I get my tax refund in Canada? Mostly, it depends on how you filed. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) aims to issue your notice of assessment within 2 weeks of receiving an online return filed on time, and within 12 weeks for a paper one. That notice shows your refund and whether it comes by direct deposit or by a cheque mailed separately.
These targets come from the CRA’s processing-times page, last updated October 20, 2026, during the season for 2025 returns filed in 2026. For most people, the 2025 return was due April 30, 2026. The deadline was June 15, 2026 if you or your spouse or common-law partner were self-employed, though any balance owing was still due April 30. Your 2026 return is filed in 2027, and the CRA updates its processing times monthly, so check them again before you file.
When Will I Get My Tax Refund in Canada?
The CRA’s tax refunds page says it in one line: how you file your return affects when you get your refund. Here are its targets as of October 2026.
| How you filed | CRA target |
|---|---|
| Online (electronic) | Notice of assessment within 2 weeks of receiving your return and any required supporting documents |
| Paper | Notice of assessment within 12 weeks of receiving your return and any required supporting documents |
| Non-resident return | Processed within 16 weeks |
The clock starts when the CRA receives your return, and any supporting documents it needs count as part of that. The CRA’s processing-times tool turns the target into a date. Enter March 15, 2026 as the filing date for an electronic return, and it gives March 30, 2026 as its goal for your notice of assessment.
The CRA calls the 2-week and 12-week figures its service standard. They apply to a return received on or before the filing due date. They do not apply when the CRA has to contact you for more information, when you file returns for several tax years, or to a return for someone who died, went bankrupt, is a non-resident or emigrated. The CRA also says it may take longer if your return is selected for a more detailed review.
How Long Does It Take the CRA to Direct Deposit a Tax Refund?
The CRA’s targets measure how long it takes to assess your return. The refund goes out after that, and direct deposit is the CRA’s faster route: it describes direct deposit as the way to receive your tax refunds and benefit payments faster and securely. A cheque goes by mail to the address the CRA has on file.
Your notice of assessment appears in your CRA account once your return is processed, and the CRA says that in most situations it shows up there right away. If you chose letter mail, the notice goes to the mailing address on file.
What the CRA says about setting up direct deposit:
- It only works with an account at a Canadian bank or credit union.
- You can sign up in your CRA account or through your bank or credit union, and the CRA updates your details the next business day.
- Mailing the paper enrolment form instead can take up to 3 months or longer, and you can no longer sign up or make changes by phone.
- Keep your old bank account open until your first payment arrives in the new one.
If the CRA shows a payment you can’t find in your account, wait until 10 business days have passed since the payment date, then call the CRA.
Cheques have one thing going for them: Government of Canada cheques never expire, and you can cash one at any financial institution in Canada for no charge. As of October 2026, the CRA counts 10,985,540 uncashed cheques worth $1,876,160,000. My Account lists your own uncashed cheques once they are more than 6 months old.
Why Is the CRA Taking So Long to Process My Return?
The CRA lists the situations that can make a notice of assessment take longer:
- You filed your return after the due date.
- The CRA completes a review of your return.
- You are filing several returns at once, a bankruptcy return, or a return for someone who died.
- The CRA asked you or your representative for more information or documents.
A review is not a tax audit; the CRA makes that point on its own review page. Some reviews happen before your notice is issued, under its Pre-assessment Review Program. Others, under the Refund Examination Program, check that the proper refund is issued and can happen before or after assessment. If the CRA asks you for documents, you can send them through the Submit documents online service in your CRA account.
Changing a return that has already been assessed runs on a longer clock. The CRA’s current timeline for an adjustment request made online is 5 weeks, and 20 weeks for a paper or telephone request. For complex requests, the timeline is 35 weeks, and the CRA says it is experiencing delays in processing T1 adjustment requests due to higher than normal intake.
Why Your Refund Might Be Smaller or Held Back
Your refund is the amount on line 48400 of your return: what is left when your total credits on line 48200 are larger than your total payable on line 43500. Refundable credits can create or raise a refund. The Canada Workers Benefit, for example, is a refundable tax credit for people who are working and earning a low income. Generally, the CRA does not refund a difference of $2 or less.
The CRA may keep all or part of your refund if you have:
- an amount owing, or a pending amount owing
- a garnishment order under the Family Orders and Agreements Enforcement Assistance Act
- certain outstanding federal, provincial, or territorial debts, such as student loans, EI or social assistance overpayments, or immigration loans
- outstanding GST/HST returns from a sole proprietorship or partnership
A refund can also come with interest. For 2025 refunds, the CRA pays compound daily interest in some cases. Interest starts on the latest of three dates: 30 days after the balance due date, 30 days after you file, or the day you overpaid your taxes.
Filing late also affects more than your refund. The CRA asks you to file on time to prevent disruption to your benefit and credit payments, including the Canada Child Benefit and the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (formerly the GST/HST credit).
How to Check Your Tax Refund Status
The simplest check is the progress tracker on the Overview page of My Account. For a T1 return it shows a status and a target completion date, based on the CRA’s published service standards. The statuses it can show for a return include:
- Received: the CRA has your return but has not assessed it yet.
- In progress: your return is being reviewed.
- Information requested: the CRA has asked you for more information to finish its review.
- Assessed: your return has been assessed.
Files only show up while they are in progress or for 30 days after they are completed. If you don’t have an account yet, you can register for a CRA account on the CRA’s sign-in page.
By phone, the CRA asks you to wait 12 weeks before contacting it if you live in Canada, or 16 weeks if you live outside Canada. Its automated line at 1-800-959-8281 (option 4) runs Monday to Sunday, 6 am to 3 am ET. It needs the amount from line 15000 of your most recent notice of assessment. Agents answer the same number Monday to Friday, 8 am to 8 pm ET.
What to Do If Your Tax Refund Is Late
- Check the progress tracker first. “Information requested” means the CRA is waiting on you, and the 2-week and 12-week targets do not apply once the CRA has to contact you for more information.
- Compare the date with the CRA’s target: 2 weeks for an online return, 12 weeks for paper, counted from when the CRA received your return and any documents it needed.
- If your notice of assessment shows a smaller refund than you expected, compare it with the amounts owing and debts the CRA can keep, listed above.
- If you live in Canada and 12 weeks have passed, call the CRA.
- If a deposit date has passed with nothing in your account, wait 10 business days, then call. For a missing cheque, call the CRA; My Account only lists uncashed cheques more than 6 months old.
Watch for messages about your refund. The CRA’s list of scam warning signs says it will not send refunds or payments by e-transfer or text message, so a message offering your refund that way is not from the CRA.
Planning Around the Wait
The gap between 2 weeks and 12 weeks is the part of the timeline you control. For your 2026 return, filed in 2027, filing online by the due date with direct deposit already set up puts you on the 2-week standard and the CRA’s faster payment route.
If you are counting on the refund for a bill, plan around the CRA’s target date, not the day you file. Under the federal Tax Rebate Discounting Act, a business that buys your refund for cash up front can keep up to 15% of the first $300 and 5% of the rest. Its fees for preparing your return count toward that limit, though sales tax on them can come off on top. Borrowing to cover the wait adds interest to money already on its way: through Lend For All’s partner lenders, rates on personal loans start from about 19.99% APR, and 35% APR is the legal maximum.
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