CRA letter of compliance: since April 2025, it's the FBC letter

Which document proves your client is in good standing?

The CRA has no document called a letter of compliance. Effective April 1, 2025, it stopped providing comfort letters, which confirmed that a business's corporate income tax (RC), payroll (RP) and GST/HST (RT) accounts were in good standing. Its replacement is the filing and balance confirmation (FBC) letter canada.ca. Lenders and lawyers are the usual askers, for example before a bank approves a loan or before someone buys real property or a business canada.ca.

The FBC row comes from the CRA's help page for the letter canada.ca. The CRA says the comfort letter was a different thing from a clearance certificate canada.ca, and the clearance certificate is the legal representative's protection from personal liability when distributing property canada.ca; see estate clearance certificate. The section 116 certificate is the document the CRA itself calls a "certificate of compliance" canada.ca, covered on section 116 certificate. If a foreign payer wants proof of residence, you need a CRA letter of residency instead canada.ca.

How do you request the FBC letter for a client?

Owners, legal representatives and authorized representatives with at least Level 2 access can request the FBC letter through My Business Account or Represent a Client canada.ca. Level 1 only lets a representative see information; Level 2 adds certain account changes canada.ca. If your authorization is Level 1, fix it first through Represent a Client.

In My Business Account, "Filing and balance confirmation" sits with the services under All Programs canada.ca. The request form asks for an email address and a daytime phone number, with the area code, and it doesn't store them, so you enter both each time. Submit, and a confirmation page appears canada.ca.

The letter arrives in the Mail service of My Business Account, generally shortly after you submit canada.ca. An email tells you when it's ready, and you download it through "View mail." You can request one whenever you need it, but if a request is already in progress you wait 24 hours before asking again canada.ca.

Send the lender or the procurement office the PDF exactly as the CRA issued it. Ontario's TCV portal, for example, accepts only the most recent FBC letter, in its original PDF format, not scanned and not expired. You find that file in My Business Account under Alternate Format in the correspondence list ontario.ca.

What do Ontario and Quebec government contracts ask for?

Provincial contracts usually want the province's own certificate, and Ontario's also leans on the CRA letter. The two rules accountants hit most often:

Ontario: bidders on provincial contracts valued at $30,300 or more must request a TCV number before they bid, and there's no cost to the vendor supplyontario.ca. The portal shows why a status is non compliant and how to fix it, and can email you when the status changes. Questions go to ServiceOntario at 1-866-668-8297 ontario.ca.

Quebec: the government requires the Attestation for all supply, service and construction contracts of $25,000 or more, and for any company applying to the Autorité des marchés publics for authorization to contract quebec.ca. Revenu Québec says subcontractors on public contracts need one too, and suggests checking with the client whether it is subject to the rules revenuquebec.ca. Agencies outside Quebec that aren't registered with Revenu Québec, and don't need to be, request it by secure email. Starting in November 2026, each Attestation carries a link that makes it easier to verify revenuquebec.ca. Even where it isn't required, Revenu Québec notes it can help your client choose business partners revenuquebec.ca.

Workers' compensation is a separate check. A contractor's clearance from WSIB, WCB or CNESST is covered on WCB clearance letter.

When does a Quebec subcontractor need an Attestation, and when does it expire?

For licensed construction work in Quebec, a subcontractor needs the Attestation once its contracts with the same contractor in the calendar year reach $25,000 before taxes, or when that pair's total for an earlier year (after February 29, 2016) was $25,000 or more. The Attestation is valid until the end of the third month following the month it is issued revenuquebec.ca.

Your client, a licensed electrical subcontractor with an establishment in Quebec, signs these 2026 contracts with one general contractor:

Your client requests the Attestation in My Account for businesses on October 15, 2026, before the October 20 contract. October is the month of issue, so the three following months are November, December and January: the Attestation is valid until January 31, 2027. The December 1 contract is covered by the same Attestation. A contract signed in February 2027 needs a new one, unless your client signed up for automatic renewal, which deposits a new Attestation a few days before the old one expires as long as your client still meets the conditions revenuquebec.ca.

What should you fix before you request it?

The FBC letter lists every outstanding return and balance tied to the business number canada.ca, so pull your client's account first and clear what you can. A missing GST/HST return or a payroll balance shows up on the letter the lender reads. For years that were never filed, look at the Voluntary Disclosures Program before the CRA contacts your client.

A balance your client can't pay right away is not always fatal. Revenu Québec issues the Attestation when a business with an overdue account has reached a payment agreement and is observing it, or when collection is legally suspended revenuquebec.ca. The CRA's help page doesn't say the FBC letter notes an arrangement, so expect the balance to appear, and give the lender the CRA payment arrangement confirmation alongside it.

For an Ontario bid, run the TCV check well before the deadline: the number has to exist before your client bids, and a non compliant status comes with the reasons and the steps to become compliant ontario.ca. A business that has no business number yet can't get an FBC letter tied to one; start with business number registration.