Return Check: Check Your Tax Return Before You File

Catch mismatched slips, over-limit deductions and the claims CRA adjusts most, before you file your Canadian tax return.

Your tax software checks that every box is filled in. Return Check checks whether CRA will agree with what's in them, before you press submit.

The short version

Upload your finished return, your slips and last year's notice of assessment. Return Check reads every page.
Our calculator matches every slip to the right line and re-does the arithmetic. The AI checks every claim against CRA's rules, then a second AI pass tries to knock each finding down. Only what survives makes the report.
You get four lists: fix before you file, money you may be missing, proof to keep ready, and what checked out fine.
From $29. Add your spouse for $29 and both returns are checked together. Three checks per order, so you can fix things and run it again.
If CRA later changes your return for something on our checklist that we missed, you get your fee back.

simple return · $29.00Employment, pension and benefit slips with the standard credits.standard return · $49.00Adds investments, RRSP and FHSA, medical, donations, child care, moving and tuition.complex return · $79.00Adds self-employment, rental income, a sale of property or shares, and foreign income.

One time. No subscription.

Check my spouse or partner's return too, together with mine (+$29.00)Your province or territory

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Who does the work: our software and AI read your documents, our calculator checks every number, and a second AI review checks the findings. No accountant reviews it. See a sample report · How we test it

Not sure which plan? Pick the one that matches the most complicated thing on your return. If you are between two, the bigger plan covers more.

Why Bother Checking a Return the Software Already Checked?

Because tax software checks your typing, not your claims. It will happily file a moving expense for a move that was 30 km too short, a child care claim on the wrong spouse, or a T4 you forgot to enter. Then CRA's matching program compares your return with every slip issued in your name, and a review letter arrives in the fall, usually right after you've spent the refund.

Most CRA reviews aren't about fraud. They're about a missing slip, a claim without the right receipt, or a limit nobody mentioned. Return Check is built to catch exactly those, while fixing them is still free.

How It Works

Fifteen yes-or-no questions. Did you pay tuition, give to charity, move for work, buy a first home? Your answers tell the checker what should be on the return as well as what is.
Upload your documents. The PDF from your tax software is best. Add every slip and, if you have it, last year's notice of assessment from My Account. Photos work too.
Your social insurance number stays on your computer. PDFs are turned into page images in your browser, and anything that looks like a SIN is blacked out before a single page leaves your machine. For photos, cover it before you take the picture.
Three layers of checking. Our calculator does the matching and the arithmetic: slips against lines, tax withheld against line 43700, limits like the $5,000 tuition transfer and the $10,000 home buyers' amount. The AI reads the claims against CRA's rules and the 26-point checklist below. Then a second, deliberately sceptical AI review drops anything that isn't backed by your documents and a rule.
Your report. Every finding says what's wrong, the line, the rough dollar effect, what to do, and which CRA page backs it up. Print it, fix the return, and run it again. Each order includes three checks.

The Three Plans

Plan	For	Price
Simple	Employment, pension, EI and benefit slips with the standard credits	$29.00 + HST
Standard	Adds investments, RRSP and FHSA, medical, donations, child care, moving and tuition	$49.00 + HST
Complex	Adds self-employment, rental income, sales of property or shares, and foreign income	$79.00 + HST
Spouse or partner	A second return, checked against the first	+$29

Checking a couple's returns together catches the mistakes that only show up side by side: a pension split that doesn't match on both returns, the home buyers' amount claimed twice, the eligible dependant amount on both, or medical expenses on the higher-income return when the lower one would get more back.

$49.00

Already filed? Check the last three years instead

Refund Finder reads your past returns and lists the credits and deductions you missed, with the value of each and how to claim them. CRA accepts changes for ten years back.

See how it works

What Return Check Looks For

Slips that don't match the return. T4 box 14 against line 10100 (slip never arrived? see missing T4), tax deducted against line 43700, pension, OAS, CPP and EI slips against their lines, T5 interest, T3 and T5008 amounts, and slips you uploaded but never entered.
The claims CRA adjusts most. CRA publishes its own list of common adjustments. It includes moving expenses (line 21900), other deductions (line 23200), the northern residents deduction (line 25500), the eligible dependant amount (line 30400), tuition and amounts transferred from a child, medical expenses (lines 33099 and 33199) and the foreign tax credit.
Limits and room. RRSP deductions above your limit, the $5,000 tuition transfer, the $10,000 home buyers' amount, child care limits, and medical expenses on the wrong spouse.
Arithmetic and carry-forwards. Totals that don't add up, plus unused tuition, capital losses, RRSP contributions and donations from earlier years.
Forms that are easy to forget. The principal residence designation on Schedule 3 and form T2091 when you sold a home, form T1135 for foreign property over $100,000, form T2200 behind any employment expense.
Money you left out. Credits your answers or documents point to but the return doesn't claim: pension and age amounts, the Canada workers benefit, disability and caregiver amounts, union dues, student loan interest and more.
Things that are fine but unusual. A rental loss year after year, a home office, large donations against modest income. Legitimate, but CRA may ask, so the report tells you which proof to keep handy.

See What You Get Before You Pay

Here is a full sample Return Check report, made-up person, real math. It shows the three kinds of findings, how each one is explained, and what to do about it.

Who reviews your report: nobody at CanadianTaxes.ai. Our software and AI read your documents, our calculator checks every number it can, and a second AI review checks each finding before you see it. No accountant looks at it. That is how we keep it at this price, and it is why the report tells you plainly when a situation needs a professional. Here is how we test it.

Our Promise

If CRA later changes your return because of something on our checklist that we should have caught from the documents you gave us, we refund your fee, and the Letter Check for that letter is free. We don't pay tax, penalties or interest; nobody honest offers that for $49.

What It Won't Do

It won't file for you or talk to CRA for you; you stay in charge of your return. It won't help anyone hide income or dress a claim up as something it isn't: if something is legitimate but unusual, the answer is proof, not camouflage. And it isn't a substitute for a professional on a big, messy year. If your return involves a business sale, residency questions or a large dispute, the report says so.

$99.00

Want the whole year covered?

The Tax Year Pass includes a household Return Check, Letter Checks all year, and a Review Response Pack if CRA asks for receipts. One payment, twelve months.

See how it works

Return Check Questions

Can I check my tax return before filing it with CRA?

Yes. Return Check reads your finished return, slips and last notice of assessment before you file, matches every slip to the return, re-does the arithmetic, and checks each claim against CRA rules. You get a list of what to fix, what proof to keep, and what you may have missed.

Why does CRA review tax returns?

CRA says returns are selected because the information does not match third-party slips such as T4s, because of the deductions or credits claimed, because of the taxpayer’s compliance history, or at random.

Does it work with returns from any tax software or accountant?

Yes. Upload the PDF your software or preparer gives you. A printout photographed page by page also works, though PDFs read more reliably.

Is my social insurance number sent anywhere?

For PDFs, no: numbers that look like a SIN are blacked out in your own browser before pages are uploaded. For photos we cannot detect it, so cover it before you take the picture. Pages are read once and not saved on our server.

Will Return Check guarantee CRA will not review my return?

No. Nobody can, since some reviews are random. It reduces the errors that trigger reviews and makes sure you have the proof ready if one comes. If CRA changes your return for something on our checklist that we missed, you get your fee back.

Which tax years does it check?

2026 returns (filed in 2027) and 2025 returns. For older years, use Refund Finder, which looks for money you missed in past returns.

Sources: CRA, How tax returns are selected for review; CRA, Common adjustments. Checked October 2026. A check of the documents you provide, not tax advice. CanadianTaxes.ai is not the Canada Revenue Agency.

Last reviewed October 11, 2026 against CRA and Government of Canada sources. How we check our facts.