I’m curious to hear others’ thoughts on why are we being asked to produce our RepID on T183 forms. To be clear, I understand this is a CRA decision, not TaxCycle’s.
To my point, CRA has been using it as part of the identification process when calling in as an authorized representative, which is at least a positive step forward from their previous position of merely requiring the firm name and phone number (both publically available). It strikes me as odd to make the RepID available to every client. CRA’s stated purpose is “Linking an applicant’s RepID to their EFILE number will allow the CRA to further enhance the security of our systems and monitoring processes.” I can’t understand why placing the RepID beside the Efile number on a document given to every client does anything to “enhance security”, particularly if CRA’s hotline staff are using it to verify the caller’s identity.
Not that I’m looking to invite any further time-consuming scrutiny when calling CRA about a client, but I think this measure is a step backwards in terms of “security”. To me, it would make much more sense if it was merely transmitted with the return - not displayed on the T183. Neither the RepID or Efile Number mean anything to the client, so there’s no security gained there.
I would guess that RepID will be masked on the copy sent to the client, and transmitted to CRA with the return next year. Just a thought.
No idea why they would do that as it seems a bit like belt and suspenders to keep one’s pants up. There is no effective 2FA (unlike on a phone call, where that makes sense), but maybe in a multi-person office they want to know WHO is actually filing the return, not just the Electronic Filer Number which is generic,
How will it be determined WHOSE rep ID will be reported? In a firm where you have multiple preparers and reviewers and partners, how would you determine which person’s rep ID is most appropriate? If it isn’t specified by default (i.e. the first person to open the TaxCycle file, or the last one to save it, etc) that will be another administrative burden to ensure the correct rep ID is entered.
Arrgh.
If anyone here is a member of E-File Association of Canada, that would be a good place to bring this up. Steve Watson, I think, is doing a good job of representing tax preparers with CRA. They have accommplished good things. Membership is not expensive.
I’m with you on masking the RepID on the client copy.
As for “who” is actually filing the return, I’m not sure what that would actually look like. As far as I can see now, the options only allow a single RepID, which is then pulled to TaxCycle on every machine. I’m fairly certain that in most instances, CRA is going to find that a single RepID for each office is going to be the designated e-Filer - even in larger firms where several managers and/or partners may qualify as an “applicant”.