The federal government promised to "pilot a new automatic [tax] filing service" in 2024 to help get benefits to low- and fixed-income Canadians — but ended up recycling a program from the year before that saw little uptake.

Thousands of low-income Canadians are missing out on government benefits because they don't file a tax return each year. The parliamentary budget officer (PBO) has estimated that an automatic filing system would result in the government paying out between $1.6 billion and $1.8 billion to individuals who are not receiving those benefits now.

In most cases, only people who owe taxes are required by law to file a return each year with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). Many people — notably those on government assistance — don't expect to owe the federal government anythin

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