GST/HST NETFILE: file in your CRA account or with a 4 digit code

Which filing route needs the access code, and which lets you pay?

NETFILE is built into the CRA account (My Business Account for the owner, Represent a Client for you) and also runs as a public online form. The CRA lists six ways to file a GST/HST return in total, and five of them meet the electronic filing requirement. Only the account route and EDI through a financial institution skip both the access code and the paper canada.ca.

The account and the form both accept schedules, Form GST106 and the combined RC7200 GST/HST and QST return for selected listed financial institutions. Internet File Transfer and TELEFILE take neither schedules nor rebates canada.ca. In the account, the pay button ("Proceed to pay") appears in My Business Account only, so a return filed in Represent a Client is paid by another method canada.ca.

Since 2024, every GST/HST registrant except charities and selected listed financial institutions must file electronically. A paper return from anyone else costs $100 the first time and $250 for each return after that canada.ca. The statutory hook is ETA 278.1(2.1), which makes electronic filing mandatory for prescribed persons laws-lois.justice.gc.ca. The full penalty rules sit on the electronic filing penalty page.

What authorization do you need to file in Represent a Client?

Level 2. The CRA's service list for business representatives gives "Returns (EFILE transmit)" for the GST/HST (RT) account as no access at Level 1 and File at Levels 2 and 3. Level 1 can view return details but can't send one canada.ca.

The table follows the CRA's list as last updated in September 2026 canada.ca. If the authorization you hold is Level 1, the client either upgrades it or files from their own My Business Account. How to get the authorization in the first place is on the Represent a Client page.

To file: sign in, choose your Representative account, select GST/HST and the RT number, then select File a return on the account overview page canada.ca.

How do you find or reset the 4 digit access code?

The GST/HST access code is 4 digits and stays the same for every period until someone changes it. You need it only for the NETFILE form, Internet File Transfer and TELEFILE. Your client may have received it in a mailed GST/HST filing package, or at registration if they're a non resident canada.ca.

There are three ways to get it back canada.ca:

• My Business Account, since October 2025: GST/HST, the RT number, then View return details. Representatives signed in through Represent a Client never see the code, whatever their level.
• The online access code form: set a new code by entering the BN plus details from a return for a period that ended within the last 3 years. That's the reporting period and line 109, if line 109 wasn't $0.00, or the reporting period and the confirmation number, if the return was filed electronically.
• By phone: 1-800-959-5525 in Canada or the United States.

The online form catches new registrants and clients who only ever filed nil returns: with no return in the last 3 years, or only $0.00 returns filed on paper, they have nothing to enter. Your fastest path in that case is to file in Represent a Client, which never asks for the code.

What happens between Submit and the confirmation number?

The steps are the same in the account and on the form. Enter the BN, the reporting period "from" and "to" dates, and (on the form only) the access code. Tick "I am filing a nil return (all fields are $0)" if there's nothing to report, tick each rebate or schedule that applies, enter the amounts, review, tick Certification and select Submit. The session times out after 35 minutes of inactivity, and nothing is saved if you leave before submitting canada.ca.

After a successful submit you get a 6 digit confirmation number, which means the CRA accepted the return for processing. Keep it with the client file canada.ca. It matters legally too: under ETA 278.1(3), an electronic return is deemed filed on the day the Minister acknowledges acceptance of it laws-lois.justice.gc.ca. No confirmation number means no filing.

GST/HST electronic filing runs 7 days a week, from 6:00 am to 2:30 am Eastern (3:00 am to 11:30 pm Pacific). The browser needs TLS support with cookies and JavaScript turned on canada.ca.

The CRA processes most GST/HST returns within 4 weeks. It sends a notice of assessment only when your client is owed a refund or rebate, or owes more than they paid, and most business notices are only in the online account canada.ca. Which amount goes on which line is on the GST/HST return lines page.

Which returns, rebates and forms can NETFILE not handle?

Neither NETFILE route takes a return for an account administered by Revenu Québec canada.ca. Those registrants report through Revenu Québec; see the QST return page. The online form also can't file elections; the account can canada.ca.

Rebates claimed with a return depend on the route canada.ca:

When a rebate can't go electronically, your client still files the return electronically, includes the rebate amount on it, and mails the rebate application to the address on the form no later than the day the return is filed canada.ca. Two other filers have to mail something alongside a NETFILE return: the coordinator of a closely related group that elected on Form GST303 sends its letter of direction to the tax centre, and a filer with First Nations Tax mails the FNT schedule (Form GST499-1) to the Prince Edward Island Tax Centre canada.ca. The rebate rules themselves are on the GST189 and GST524 pages.

A non resident can use NETFILE, but must have a SIN or an authorized representative in Canada, report in Canadian dollars (unless approved to file a simplified digital economy return in another qualifying currency) and remit Canadian funds through a participating Canadian financial institution canada.ca.

When is a Saturday due date return on time, and when does refund interest start?

Your client is an Ontario quarterly filer. For July to September 2026 they charged $6,500 of HST on $50,000 of sales (line 103) and paid $1,170 of HST on $9,000 of purchases (line 106), so line 109 is $6,500 minus $1,170 = $5,330 owing.

The statutory due date is October 31, 2026, a Saturday, so the return and the payment are on time on Monday, November 2 (see the GST filing deadline page). You file in Represent a Client at 11:15 pm Eastern that night, inside the 6:00 am to 2:30 am window, and the confirmation number comes back on November 2. Represent a Client has no pay button, so the client pays the $5,330 the same day by online banking. Paying at a bank counter instead? They need Form RC158, Remittance Voucher: Payment on Filing, not the remittance part of a paper return canada.ca.

Now a second client with a refund: line 109 is negative $2,400 for the same quarter, and you file on October 20, 2026. The CRA pays refund interest from the latest of 30 days after filing (November 19), 31 days after the period ends (October 31) and the date of the payment that created the overpayment canada.ca. So interest can only start on November 19. Refunds normally go out within 4 weeks of receipt, about November 17 here, and a refund can be held if any return under the ETA or the Income Tax Act is missing canada.ca.