News release

Stamping of hand delivered mail at Canada Revenue Agency Local Offices

Ottawa, Ontario, December 7, 2006… The Honourable Carol Skelton, Minister of National Revenue, announced today that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will provide a uniform on demand date stamping service for hand delivered correspondence in every local office across Canada. The announcement was made during the Minister's appearance before a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.

"Canada's New Government is putting the taxpayer first by working with the CRA to deliver better customer service," Minister Skelton said.

In recognition of the value that some taxpayers and tax practitioners place on date stamping, the CRA will implement uniform date stamping on demand in all local offices. The service will consist of placing a stamp on envelopes received at local office counters for deposit in drop-boxes.

"By setting a uniform national standard for date stamping deliveries, we are replacing an outdated, uneven and ad hoc approach to customer service," the Minister added.

While CRA counter staff cannot confirm the completeness or acceptability of the contents, which will be processed in the regular manner, they will stamp the sealed envelope with the date of delivery, assuring taxpayers that a record of the transaction has been created.

The CRA continues to encourage tax filers to use its convenient electronic services such as EFILE, NETFILE, and TELEFILE which automatically provide a confirmation number.

For more information about services for tax filers available at your local tax service office, please visit the CRA Web site at www.cra-arc.gc.ca/contact/tso-e.html.

This document is also available for download in .pdf format.

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