You have decided to stop doing your own taxes. One T4 turned into a T4 plus self-employment income, or you bought a rental, or the software asked a question you could not answer honestly. Now you are looking at search results for firms in North York, Willowdale and Don Mills that all promise the same three things.

Almost everything that separates a careful preparer from a careless one is checkable before you hand over a slip. Is the person registered with CRA to file electronically? Do they sign the return? How do they charge? Below are those checks, the questions to ask, CRA’s own warning signs, and what to bring to a first meeting about your personal tax return.

Bottom Line Up Front

CRA publishes a directory of EFILE certified preparers, searchable by postal code (CRA, 2026).

Anyone paid to prepare more than 5 returns a year must generally file electronically, with a $25 penalty per paper-filed T1 (CRA, 2026).

You are responsible for everything on your return even if someone else prepared it (CRA, 2026). Read it before signing Form T183.

A fee quoted as a percentage of your refund is on CRA’s list of warning signs (CRA, 2026).

Bring last year’s notice of assessment. It carries your RRSP limit and carryforwards.

When software or a free clinic is the right answer

One T4, no dependants, no other income, nothing to claim beyond an RRSP receipt? Use tax software and keep your money. CRA certifies software for NETFILE each year and notes that “if you have a modest income, most software will prepare a basic tax return for free” (CRA, 2026). Certification is technical approval, not endorsement: certified software companies “are not representatives of the CRA.”

Free help from people also exists. Under the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, volunteers prepare returns for those with a modest income and a simple situation.

Family size	Suggested income for a free tax clinic
1 person	$40,000
2 people	$55,000
3 people	$60,000
4 people	$65,000
5 people	$70,000

Source: CRA, 2026. Add $5,000 per additional person.

Volunteers will not touch self-employment or business income, employment expenses, rental income, capital gains or losses, interest over $1,200, foreign property, or a recent bankruptcy (CRA, same page). If that is you, the clinics are closed and you are in paid-preparer territory.

CPA, preparer, storefront: what the labels mean

Preparing someone else’s return for a fee is not licensed in Canada the way practising law is. CRA’s definition of a tax preparer is broad: “a firm, an organization, a discounter, any other certified individual” (CRA, 2026). Two things are verifiable: the CPA designation, and EFILE registration.

The designation is regulated. CPA Ontario publishes member, firm and public accounting licence directories, warning that a listing alone “does not guarantee they have a current and valid Public Accounting Licence” (CPA Ontario, 2026). That licence matters for audited or reviewed financial statements. For a straightforward T1, it does not.

Paid option	Suits	Check
Seasonal storefront	Simple returns, filed in season	Who is there in July
Independent preparer	Self-employment, rental, small business	EFILE registration, who signs
CPA firm	Corporations, financial statements	Designation and licence

A discounter pays you part of your refund up front and keeps a fee. If a firm offers money on the spot, ask for the total fee in dollars, not a percentage.

What CRA EFILE certification actually means

EFILE is CRA’s electronic filing channel for professionals: “an automated service that allows approved tax preparation service providers and discounters in Canada to electronically file their clients’ current and first seven prior years'” returns (CRA, 2026). Anyone offering tax preparation can apply if they “pass the suitability screening criteria.”

So it is not a designation. It is CRA saying this person passed a screening and may transmit returns. Check it in CRA’s tax preparer directory, searchable by postal code.

The seven-year window lets a registered preparer file a backlog electronically instead of on paper. And before anything is sent you review the return and sign “Part F, Declaration and authorization” on Form T183 (CRA, 2026). That signature is where the return becomes yours.

Seven questions to ask before you hire

Ask these on the phone, before you send anything.

Who prepares my return, and who do I talk to afterward? At bigger shops the person who signs you up is not the one doing the work. Neither model is wrong. Know which you are buying.
What is the price, and is it fixed? A number, in dollars, in writing.
Do you sign the return as the preparer? Doing the work and leaving those fields blank is a way of distancing yourself from it.
What happens if CRA reviews or reassesses me? CRA says a review “does not represent a tax audit” (CRA, 2026). Ask whether answering a review letter is included or billed. Either answer is fine. Silence is not.
What is your turnaround, in business days? A number, not a season.
How do I send documents securely? A portal or encrypted upload is standard. Emailing your T4 and SIN to a general inbox is not.
If I am incorporated, who checks that the corporate and personal sides agree? Salary on the T4, dividends on the T5, HST remitted, and the figures on the corporate tax return all have to reconcile with your T1. Some firms do both sides in house. Others work alongside the accountant you already have, which is fine. The answer you do not want is that nobody has been assigned the job.

Warning signs worth walking away from

CRA’s own list is short and specific. Be cautious of a preparer who:

charges “fees based on a percentage of your anticipated refund”
promises unusually large refunds
discourages a second opinion, or contact with CRA
offers to claim donations or business losses you did not incur

CRA’s advice on the same page: ask questions if you do not understand your return, check qualifications, never sign a blank form (CRA, 2026).

Why that matters sits in one CRA sentence: “even if someone else prepares your tax return, you are responsible for all the information on the return.” The preparer may face third-party penalties. You face the reassessment.

Two more not on CRA’s list: a preparer who will not put their name in the preparer fields, and one whose phone is answered only from February to April.

Example, 2025 tax year, illustration only. Say your refund comes to $3,200. A preparer charging 15% of it bills $480. A flat quote does not move, because the size of a refund mostly reflects how much tax came off your paycheques, not how much work the return took.

Authorizing a representative, and taking it back

To pull your slips and deal with CRA for you, your accountant needs an authorization on your account, and you choose the level. Level 1 allows access to information only. Level 2 allows access to information and to make certain account changes (CRA, 2026).

Level 1 covers viewing slips, notices of assessment, RRSP and TFSA information, benefits and balances. Level 2 adds changing returns, submitting documents, registering disputes and requesting relief from penalties and interest. Neither level reaches your money. CRA lists no access at level 1 and level 2 alike for personal information, direct deposit, pre-authorized debit and the authorization of other representatives (CRA, 2026). Authorizing an accountant does not hand over your bank account.

The usual route is that your accountant sends the request through Represent a Client and you confirm it in your CRA account, which since February 2026 gives access right away instead of after a five-day wait (CRA, 2026). Form AUT-01 still covers offline access by phone, mail or fax, and has to reach CRA within six months of the date you sign it (CRA, 2026). End it whenever you like: removing a representative in My Account “immediately cancels their access”, or call CRA, or mail Form AUT-01X (CRA, 2026).

What to bring to your first meeting

Bring the prior year notice of assessment first. It carries your RRSP deduction limit, unused tuition and carryforwards, and without it a preparer is guessing. A fuller slip-by-slip version lives in our 2025 document checklist.

Personal returns (T1)

Bring	Why
Prior year notice of assessment	RRSP limit, tuition, carryforwards
Slips: T4, T4A, T5, T3, T4E, T5008, T4A(P), T4A(OAS)	A missing slip is the top reassessment trigger
RRSP receipts	For 2025, contributions from March 4, 2025 to March 2, 2026 (CRA, 2025)
Medical receipts, premiums, travel	Claimed against a threshold
Donation receipts	Registered charities only
T2202 tuition certificate	Sets what transfers to a parent
Rent or property tax paid in Ontario	Form ON-BEN, Ontario Trillium Benefit (CRA, 2026)
Dependants: names, birthdates, SINs, child care receipts	Benefits are built from these
Marital status change date	Changes benefit calculations
Direct deposit details, current address	Refunds and benefit payments

Self-employed, gig work and rental

Bring	Why
Bookkeeping file or expense spreadsheet	Decides if this is an afternoon or a week
Business bank and card statements, full year	Tests the books for gaps
HST returns and amounts remitted	Must match reported revenue
Payroll records, remittances, T4s issued	Mismatches get flagged
Vehicle log: total and business kilometres	The claim comes from the ratio
Home office: area, rent or mortgage interest, utilities	Claimed on the business-use share
Invoices for equipment	Capital cost allowance, not an expense
Rental: rent, mortgage interest, property tax, repairs	Repairs and improvements differ

If the bookkeeping row is where your stomach drops, fix that before the tax conversation rather than during it. Whether you catch up yourself, hire a bookkeeper, or use a firm’s bookkeeping services, getting a year of records into shape in the autumn costs less than paying a preparer to rebuild it in April at tax-season rates, and it usually finds deductions a rushed reconstruction misses.

Incorporated businesses (T2)

Add the prior year financial statements and T2, the trial balance, shareholder loan detail, dividends and salary paid with matching T5s and T4s, the year end date, the business number, and articles of incorporation. A T2 is due within six months of the end of each tax year (CRA, 2026), a different clock from your personal return.

Keep all of it. CRA asks individuals to keep records “for at least six years” because it “may ask to see these documents later to support your claims” (CRA, 2026).

What drives the price of a return

Price tracks complexity and the state of your records, not the size of your refund. When two quotes differ, this is usually why:

Number and type of slips. Investment slips with capital transactions take longest, because the adjusted cost base has to be worked out.
Self-employment. A T2125 adds an income and expense statement, plus vehicle and home office math.
Rental property. Each one is its own statement, and repairs versus improvements takes judgment.
HST. Those returns have to reconcile to reported revenue.
A corporation. Financial statements, GIFI schedules and the T2 itself.
The bookkeeping. The biggest swing on business work.
Multiple years. Usually quoted per year.

Ask for the quote in dollars before work starts, and ask what would change it. A preparer who can explain why your return costs what it costs has looked at your situation, not at a price list.

Not sure which category you fall into? Ruby Tax has been preparing personal and corporate returns from 250 Consumers Road in North York for over ten years, with personal returns starting at $50 and corporate returns starting at $400, and you talk to the person doing the work. If you would rather sit down once in person, that is available across the GTA. Get a free quote or call 647-990-7258.

Common Questions

Does my accountant have to be in North York?

No. Returns go through EFILE and authorizations through Represent a Client, so a preparer anywhere in Canada can handle yours without meeting you. Proximity matters less than it did ten years ago. It still matters to some people, for good reasons: a first year with messy records, a business that runs on paper, a language you would rather speak face to face.

Can I switch accountants partway through the year?

Yes, and you need nobody’s permission. Cancel the old authorization in My Account, which takes effect immediately (CRA, 2026), and ask for copies of your filed returns and working papers. Those records are yours.

I have several years unfiled. Does that change who I should hire?

It narrows the field. You want someone registered for EFILE, since the program covers the current year plus the first seven prior years electronically, and someone who handles penalty and interest relief requests regularly. More on that in our guide to filing outstanding returns.

What to do next

Pick two or three candidates, look them up in CRA’s preparer directory, and call each with the seven questions. Ask for the fee in dollars. Then build the folder, starting with last year’s notice of assessment. Book early: the 2025 return was due April 30, 2026 for most people and June 15, 2026 for the self-employed and their spouses, and the pattern repeats yearly (CRA, 2026).

If your situation is simple, use the software. If it is not, hire on who signs the return and who picks up the phone in October. Filing for the first time? Start with our beginner’s guide.

About the author. Raj is the principal of Ruby Tax, a CRA e-file certified tax and accounting practice at 250 Consumers Road in North York. He has spent over ten years preparing personal and corporate returns for clients across Canada, from first-time filers to incorporated businesses.

Published October 23, 2026. Last updated October 23, 2026.

This article is general information, not tax advice for your situation. Tax rules change and the right answer depends on your facts. Confirm anything here against current CRA guidance or talk to us before you act on it.