CRA Review and Audit Document Checklist

A letter from the CRA is not an accusation, and most of them are not audits. The majority are processing reviews — a request to substantiate one figure on one return, resolved by sending the document behind it. Reading the letter carefully to work out which kind you have is the first thing to do, and it changes everything that follows.

What does not change is that responses are judged on being complete, on time, and organised. A late or partial response invites a second, broader look. A tidy, well-referenced package usually closes the matter.

This checklist covers what to gather, how to package it, and — just as importantly — what not to volunteer. It is not a substitute for representation. If the letter proposes an adjustment, names more than one year, or asks to visit your premises, speak to a CPA before responding.

One habit is worth adopting before any letter arrives: keep the business purpose of unusual expenses written down at the time. The questions a review asks are rarely about whether a payment happened — the bank statement settles that — but about what it was for and why it was a business cost. That is the part memory does not preserve, and it is the part a reviewer is actually asking about two years later.