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News Analysis

CRA Taking 47 Weeks to Process 'Complex' T1 Adjustments: What Canadian Taxpayers Should Do While the Ombudsperson Investigates

The Taxpayers' Ombudsperson opened a systemic examination on June 11, 2026 into Canada Revenue Agency delays that are running up to 47 weeks against a 20-week service standard. Here is what Canadian taxpayers, accountants, and anyone with a pending T1-ADJ request should do this week to limit the damage.

By Refdesk Team

CRA Taking 47 Weeks to Process 'Complex' T1 Adjustments: What Canadian Taxpayers Should Do While the Ombudsperson Investigates

What This Means for You

If you sent the Canada Revenue Agency a T1 adjustment request — a T1-ADJ form, a Change My Return submission, or a written request to amend a prior-year tax return — and the file has been sitting open for more than four months, the news Thursday is bad and good at the same time. Bad: the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson confirmed Thursday what every Canadian accountant has been seeing in their case logs all year — complex T1 adjustments are now taking up to 47 weeks at the CRA, more than double the 20-week service standard, and earlier in 2026 the delay was running closer to 49 weeks. Good: the Ombudsperson has now formally opened a systemic examination, which means a paper trail of complaints filed now — while the examination is open — directly shapes the recommendations and gives you procedural leverage with the CRA today.

The Refdesk playbook below is organized by where your file currently sits in the queue. Pull your T1-ADJ acknowledgement letter and CRA "Progress Tracker" status, and act on the right block this week.

If You Have a Pending T1 Adjustment That Is More Than 20 Weeks Old:

Your file is, by the CRA's own service standard, late. The CRA's published service standard for complex T1 adjustments is 20 weeks. Anything beyond 20 weeks gives you the right to escalate. The Ombudsperson's announcement Thursday now adds a second escalation channel that did not exist for taxpayers before today.

Action items this week:

  • Call the CRA Individual Tax Enquiries line at 1-800-959-8281 and request a "service complaint" be opened on your file. Use the phrase "service standard exceeded" — that triggers a different escalation queue than a general complaint. Get a complaint reference number in the call; do not hang up without one.
  • Submit Form RC193 — Service Feedback to the CRA at canada.ca/cra-service-feedback. RC193 is the formal service complaint form. The CRA's commitment is to acknowledge an RC193 within 30 business days. Service complaints that remain unresolved at the CRA escalate to the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson, which is the channel currently running the systemic examination.
  • File a complaint with the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson at canada.ca/en/taxpayers-ombudsperson if your CRA service feedback has not been resolved within 30 business days. The Ombudsperson does not refund tax, but every complaint in the file shapes the systemic examination opened Thursday.
  • If the adjustment includes a refund and your file is more than 30 days late beyond the service standard, claim refund interest. Under the Income Tax Act and the CRA's published policy, refund interest accrues from 31 days after the request is filed (for individuals filing a refund claim by amendment) or from the original refund date, whichever is later. The 2026 prescribed interest rate on refunds owed to individuals is published quarterly at canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/prescribed-interest-rates.html. Do not assume the CRA will calculate this automatically — request it in writing.

Example scenario: A self-employed graphic designer in Edmonton filed a T1-ADJ on November 1, 2025 to claim a missed $14,000 home office expense from her 2023 return. The CRA's intake letter classified the request as "complex" because it involved a prior-year reassessment with self-employment income. As of June 11, 2026, the file has been open 32 weeks — 12 weeks past the 20-week service standard. Her position today: a roughly $3,200 federal refund (assuming a 23% combined marginal rate) plus accrued refund interest at the prescribed rate. Filing RC193 this week starts the 30-day clock that ultimately opens the Ombudsperson escalation if the CRA does not move the file.

If You Are About to File a New T1 Adjustment:

File electronically through Change My Return — do not mail Form T1-ADJ. The Ombudsperson's most concrete action on Thursday was a formal service improvement request asking the CRA to redesign the T1-ADJ web page so it stops directing taxpayers to print and mail the form. Mailed paper T1-ADJ requests take materially longer to enter the queue than electronic submissions through Change My Return in CRA My Account, ReFILE through certified tax software, or a representative's submission through Represent a Client.

Action items this week:

  • Use Change My Return in CRA My Account at canada.ca/my-account for any prior-year adjustment under the published Change My Return limits (generally last 10 tax years, with restrictions on certain claim types).
  • If the adjustment exceeds Change My Return limits, use ReFILE through certified tax software. TurboTax Canada, Wealthsimple Tax, UFile, StudioTax, GenuTax, and H&R Block all support ReFILE for the current year and certain prior years through CRA-certified electronic transmission.
  • Bundle documentation in advance. "Complex" classification at the CRA is triggered by self-employment income, capital gains adjustments, foreign income disclosures, large prior-year reassessments, and adjustments touching the Disability Tax Credit. If your adjustment touches any of those, attach a single PDF cover letter listing every supporting document, the line numbers being adjusted, the tax year, and the dollar impact. A clean intake package shortens "complex" review time because the reviewing CRA officer does not have to bounce the file back for missing documentation.
  • Keep a calendar reminder for the 20-week mark. If the file is not closed by week 20 from the date of acknowledgement, file RC193 the following Monday.

If You Are an Accountant or Tax Preparer Managing Client Files:

Triage your client T1-ADJ pipeline this week. Pull every open T1 adjustment in your practice with a filing date before January 26, 2026 (more than 20 weeks ago). Each one is now a candidate for RC193 escalation, and the Ombudsperson's open systemic examination means escalations filed in June and July 2026 carry more weight than escalations filed later.

Action items this week:

  • Sort open T1-ADJ files by age in your practice management system. Any file older than 20 weeks gets an RC193 service complaint filed this week. Any file older than 30 weeks gets an Ombudsperson escalation if the CRA has not already moved it.
  • Document the cost of delay for clients with refund-position adjustments. Refund interest is calculated on the unpaid refund balance at the prescribed quarterly rate, but the opportunity cost — clients who cannot access their refund money for nine to twelve months — is real. A short memo to file justifies the escalation and supports any future fee disputes.
  • Inform clients of the new escalation path. A two-paragraph client memo describing the Ombudsperson's systemic examination, the 47-week delay finding, and the RC193 escalation option is the right professional response this week.
  • Use Represent a Client (RAC) for all submissions. RAC submissions through CRA's electronic portal are processed faster than client-submitted paper forms. RAC also gives the preparer authorized access to Progress Tracker, which shows the actual status of the file rather than the boilerplate language CRA call-centre agents use.

For All Canadians:

The CRA processes roughly 30 million individual T1 returns per year. T1 adjustment requests are a small fraction of that volume, but they disproportionately affect taxpayers correcting errors, claiming missed deductions, or amending after a CRA-initiated reassessment — populations that include seniors, persons with disabilities, recent immigrants, and self-employed Canadians. A 47-week processing time is not an inconvenience: it is a cash-flow problem for households waiting on refunds, and a compliance problem for households trying to settle a tax position before the next filing season starts. If you have a T1 adjustment pending, do not assume the CRA will work through the backlog without intervention — the Ombudsperson's examination is leverage, but only for taxpayers who use it.

The News: What Happened

According to the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson press release dated June 11, 2026, Taxpayers' Ombudsperson François Boileau opened a systemic examination into Canada Revenue Agency delays in processing complex T1 adjustment requests. As reported by Global News, the CRA has been taking up to 47 weeks to process complex T1 adjustments as of May 14, 2026 — more than double the published 20-week service standard.

According to Global News and Investment Executive coverage of the announcement, the processing delay was even longer earlier in 2026: between February 21 and April 17, 2026, the processing time was approximately 49 weeks. According to the Ombudsperson's statement, the office has received "a consistently high level of complaints about delays in processing T1 adjustment requests."

According to the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson, the CRA's service standards for non-complex T1 adjustments are: two weeks for adjustments requested through Change My Return in the CRA's My Account or through certified tax software, and eight weeks for routine adjustment requests made by phone or mail.

According to the Ombudsperson's release, in addition to opening the systemic examination, the office sent a service improvement request asking the CRA to redesign the T1-ADJ T1 Adjustment Request web page to encourage taxpayers to file online rather than print and mail the webform. As reported by CP24, the Ombudsperson's office stated that "taxpayers are facing undue delays."

According to the Investment Executive and Advisor.ca, the examination is intended to identify the root causes of the service issues and the steps the CRA is taking to meet its service standards. The Ombudsperson may issue formal recommendations based on the findings.

Analysis: Why This Matters

Based on our analysis of the announcement, three things make Thursday's systemic examination materially different from past CRA service complaints. First, the gap between the service standard (20 weeks) and actual performance (47 weeks) is 135% — a level of service-standard breach that, in our reading of past Ombudsperson reports, has historically led to formal recommendations the CRA accepts. Second, the Ombudsperson's parallel service improvement request — to redesign the T1-ADJ web page — is the first time the office has publicly identified the CRA's own communications as a contributor to processing delays. Third, the examination is opening with a documented baseline (47 weeks as of May 14, 2026), which means CRA progress will be measured against that number for the duration of the review.

Historical Context:

The Taxpayers' Ombudsperson has previously examined CRA service delays, including a December 2025 report on delays affecting persons with disabilities. The pattern is consistent: the Ombudsperson identifies a service standard breach, the CRA responds with operational changes, and subsequent reporting tracks whether the service standard returns to its published target. Service standard breaches involving refund-position files carry an automatic financial cost to the CRA — refund interest at the prescribed rate, currently in the mid-single-digit range — which creates an internal budget incentive for the CRA to clear the backlog regardless of the Ombudsperson's findings.

What Happens Next:

The Ombudsperson's examination typically takes 12 to 18 months from opening to final report. Interim service standard updates from the CRA usually appear in quarterly performance reporting at canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/corporate/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/corporate-reporting.html. The CRA's response to the service improvement request on the T1-ADJ web page is owed within standard service improvement timelines, typically 90 days. Expect a redesigned T1-ADJ landing page by late 2026 that defaults to electronic filing.

For affected taxpayers, the most immediate practical outcome is the procedural leverage created by an open systemic examination. RC193 service complaints filed during the examination window are aggregated as part of the evidence base — that gives every individual complaint more weight than a complaint filed in a quiet period.

Your Action Plan

Immediate (This Week):

  • Pull your CRA Progress Tracker status for any open T1 adjustment.
  • If your file is more than 20 weeks old, call 1-800-959-8281 and request a service complaint be opened with reference number.
  • File Form RC193 — Service Feedback at canada.ca/cra-service-feedback if your file is past the service standard.

Short-term (This Month):

  • If your RC193 is not resolved within 30 business days, escalate to the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson.
  • For any new T1 adjustment, use Change My Return or ReFILE — do not mail paper forms.
  • If your adjustment is in a refund position and more than 30 days late beyond the service standard, request refund interest calculation in writing.

Long-term (This Year):

  • Track the Ombudsperson's examination progress through the office's website.
  • Review every prior-year return for 2023, 2024, and 2025 for missed deductions before the 10-year amendment window closes on each year.
  • If you are self-employed, build a documentation cover-letter template that pre-empts "complex" classification.

Other Perspectives

Ombudsperson's View:

According to the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson, the examination is opened because "taxpayers are facing undue delays" and the office has received "a consistently high level of complaints" about T1 adjustment processing times. The office stated the examination will identify root causes and may make recommendations.

CRA Position:

A formal CRA response to the Ombudsperson's June 11 announcement was not publicly available at publication time. The CRA's published service standard for complex T1 adjustments remains 20 weeks. Historical CRA responses to Ombudsperson examinations have typically committed to operational reviews and updated quarterly performance reporting.

Accountants and Tax Professionals:

According to coverage in Advisor.ca and Investment Executive, the systemic examination has been welcomed by tax practitioner publications that have tracked the rising T1 adjustment processing delays through 2025 and into 2026. The dominant practitioner critique is the gap between published service standards and actual performance, particularly for files involving self-employment income and disability-related adjustments.

Affected Taxpayers:

The systemic examination was triggered in part by a "consistently high level of complaints" from individual taxpayers, according to the Ombudsperson's release. Practitioners report that the affected population skews toward Canadians with self-employment income, prior-year reassessments, disability-related credits, and foreign income disclosures — populations that are also disproportionately reliant on refund cash flow.

Note: Including multiple perspectives doesn't imply all views are equally valid, but ensures readers can make informed judgments.

Corrections Policy

We strive for accuracy. If you find an error in this analysis, please email us at [email protected]. We will promptly investigate and correct any factual inaccuracies.

Updates:

  • No corrections to date (as of 2026-06-11)

Sources