If you owe money to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), you can pay it a number of ways:

1. You can mail a cheque to them at:Sudbury Taxation Centre 1050 Notre Dame AveSudbury, Ontario  P3A 5C2Please make your cheque payable to RECEIVER GENERAL and put your SOCIAL INSURANCE NUMBER on it.
2. You can pay it at your bank either through a teller, bank machine or over the Internet. Once again use your Social Insurance Number as your identification number.

On occasion you may get a request from Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) asking you to pay instalments on your taxes. This request is computer generated and is a simple calculation on CRA’s part whereby they assume that, next year you will owe them taxes. As a result, CRA wants you to pay your income taxes in advance. They do not want to wait until you file your tax return, but would rather you make installment payments now towards next years’ tax debt. In most cases, you do not have to make these installments, but it’s best to call them (1-800-959-8281) and verify. If you are required to make installments and you do not, CRA will charge interest on the amount you owe. On the other hand, if you do make installment payments, they will not credit you with any interest on your money. Any money that you pay in advance will be credited towards your ‘next year’s’ taxes. If you overpay, you will receive it as a refund. Please make sure that you always put your SOCIAL INSURANCE NUMBER on anything you send to CRA.

Simply call them up at 1-800-959-8281 and ask them about the status of your tax return. They will usually try to prompt you to use their website because they are trying to make many of their services self-serve. If you do not want to use the website, then remain on hold until you speak to a general inquiries clerk. If you would prefer to use the Canada Revenue Agency website, then go to:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tax/individuals/topics/income-tax/refunds/status-e.html

Beware. Many of my clients have been getting phone calls or emails from people saying that they work for the “Canadian Revenue Agency”, “CRA”, “Revenue Agency” etc. Many of these emails/phone calls are threatening and intimidating. In some cases they even ask for information so you can retrieve an “refund”. I have heard situations where these fraudsters would say that there is a warrant for your arrest, or that charges are being laid, or that the police are on their way to pick you up….unless you make a payment to them usually by credit card) right away. In cases of emails, they will ask you to click on a link. The simple answer to all of this to HANG UP on the phone calls, and DELETE the emails. Then call the RCMP to report it. The CRA (revenue Canada) does not use these methods. They do not take credit card payments, and they do not provide links on any emails (if they even bother sending an email). They also do not threaten, or send the police. It’s all a scam, and unfortunately some people fall for it. The CRA telephone number is 1-800-959-8281. You can call them anytime to see what your status is.

Also, please check out the following website if you hear about certain tax “exemptions”. Like you, I also know somebody that “knows everything” and has no problem sharing his “expertise” about our tax laws. (sorry, I have to laugh at this). Anyway, you can look at http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/myths/ or http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/scrty/frdprvntn/menu-eng.html#h1