CRA liaison officer: a free, confidential visit that isn't an audit

How is a liaison officer visit different from a CRA audit?

A liaison officer visit is education your client asks for. An audit is an examination the CRA starts. The two run on different tracks, and the side by side below is the answer to the question most owners ask before they book.

The CRA says a visit is 100% confidential and that what your client chooses to discuss won't be shared with other areas of the CRA canada.ca. On the CRA's own podcast, a liaison officer says a visit is not going to result in a reassessment, that the program isn't connected to an audit, and that liaison officers don't sit in the audit department canada.ca. The audit column comes from the CRA's audit guide, which describes risk based file selection and the 30 day window to answer a proposal letter canada.ca. For the full audit timeline, see the CRA audit process.

What does the officer cover during a visit?

During a visit, seminar or webinar, the officer explains your client's tax obligations and possible deductions for business and rental operations, answers tax questions, walks through common tax errors, shows the CRA's online tools and electronic services, explains general bookkeeping practice and shows how to compare the business's financial performance with industry averages. On a personal visit, the officer also recommends ways to strengthen the bookkeeping system and comments on the books and records canada.ca.

Books and records matter because the Income Tax Act requires every person carrying on business to keep records that let the tax payable be determined, at a place of business or residence in Canada laws-lois.justice.gc.ca. How long each record must be kept is covered in CRA record retention.

The officer on the CRA podcast names the gaps she sees most: a shoebox of receipts instead of a bookkeeping system, business and personal money in one bank account with no monthly reconciliation, and no vehicle logbook, which she says was missing about 90% of the time for the sole proprietors she met. She also flags expenses with a personal element, such as a suit, that can't be claimed in full canada.ca. The vehicle logbook rules and the CRA business expenses list cover both in detail.

Which clients can ask for a liaison officer?

As of October 2026, the service is open to owners of small businesses, sole proprietors and people earning rental income from a property they own. Rental income support is the newest addition on the CRA's page canada.ca.

Corporations qualify too. The program began as a pilot in 2014, became permanent the following year, and served only unincorporated businesses until late 2019, when incorporated businesses were added. The officer on the podcast says the service complements an accountant rather than replacing one, and that many owners she meets already have one canada.ca.

There are two formats. A personal visit happens in person, by phone or online through MS Teams. A seminar or webinar serves an association or group, and the person who requests it coordinates the participants canada.ca. The CRA reports more than 140,000 small businesses served, with 97% of surveyed participants saying the visit helped them understand their obligations canada.ca.

How do you book a visit for your client?

Your client submits the online request form. It asks for the type of income (business, rental or both), the business name, whether they want a visit or a group seminar, their name, language, date of birth, city, province, postal code and phone number, the best time to call (Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4 pm), the topics (income tax, GST/HST, payroll or other) and a comment on what to discuss canada.ca.

A liaison officer usually calls within 10 business days to book canada.ca. Worked example: a request submitted on Monday, October 19, 2026 counts 10 business days to Monday, November 2, 2026, so if your client hasn't heard back by then, the request is outside the usual window.

The form collects the requester's own name and date of birth, and the CRA's pages don't say whether a representative can request a visit for a client. The clean route is to have the owner submit it and list your questions in the comment field. Note that a Represent a Client authorization is a separate step that the form doesn't ask about.

If your client received a CRA invitation letter instead, they book by calling the number at the bottom of that letter. The CRA may also phone to follow up or invite them, and it tells owners who doubt the call to ask for the caller's name, office and phone number and verify the caller before going further canada.ca.

Where does the confidentiality stop?

Confidentiality covers what your client discusses with the officer. It isn't an amnesty for returns already filed. The officer on the podcast says liaison officers give tips but can't tell an owner to change a claim canada.ca, so any error the visit surfaces is still your client's to fix.

A past error on a T1 is corrected with an adjustment request (see how to change a filed return). An omission large enough to carry penalties is a candidate for the Voluntary Disclosures Program, and it is better filed before the CRA makes contact.

Nothing on the CRA's pages says a visit exempts a file from audit. Audit selection runs on its own risk assessment canada.ca, so the visit's value is cleaner books going forward, not protection for past years.