CRA is reviewing your corporate return. Here is what that means.

What a review is, and is not

The CRA reviews returns by matching them against the slips, elections and filings it already holds. Where something does not line up — or where a claim falls into a category they routinely verify — a letter asks for the documents behind the number. That is all a review is: a request to show your work on named lines. It is not an accusation, and it is not an audit, which is a broader examination with different rules.

Read the letter for these four things

• The reference number — every response has to quote it, or it lands in a queue unattached to your file.
• The specific lines or claims named — the review is limited to these. Answering what was asked, fully, is the whole job.
• The response deadline — the letter states it. If the records cannot be assembled in time, an extension can be requested before it passes, not after.
• Where to respond — usually online through My Business Account, which timestamps the submission.

What to send — and what not to volunteer

Send exactly what supports the lines named: invoices, agreements, ledgers for that account, proof of payment. Complete, legible, organized by the line it supports. What you should not do is send the whole year’s records unasked — a response wider than the question invites questions wider than the letter. Precision is compliance; volume is exposure.

If the number was actually wrong

Sometimes the review is right. If checking the records shows the claim was overstated, it is almost always better to say so in the response than to defend it — and where the problem is bigger than one line, the Voluntary Disclosures Program may matter. That is a judgement call worth making with an accountant before responding, not after an assessment.

What happens after you respond

Three outcomes: the CRA accepts the support and closes the review; it adjusts the return and issues a reassessment; or it asks a follow-up. A reassessment you disagree with is not the end — there is a formal objection process with its own deadline, which starts from the reassessment date.

General information, not tax advice. A letter’s own wording and dates govern — confirm anything that affects a decision on a free consult.