A CRA Income Check for Mortgages Is Still Not Built: How to Be Ready Anyway

What MPC asked for, and why it matters

Mortgage lending still depends heavily on paper. A pay stub, a T4, a Notice of Assessment: each is a document the applicant hands over, and each can in principle be altered.

On 8 October, Jasmine Toor, MPC’s vice-president of public affairs, told the House of Commons finance committee, during its study of Bill C-31, that a secure system allowing income to be verified directly with the Canada Revenue Agency, with borrower consent and privacy safeguards, would make the process more reliable. As Canadian Mortgage Trends reported, she said it would “help combat mortgage fraud, reduce reliance on documents that can be altered or falsified, reduce unnecessary paperwork for Canadians, and give lenders greater confidence in the information that they use to make lending decisions.”

MPC has pushed the idea alongside the Canadian Bankers Association, the Mortgage and Title Insurance Association and the Canadian Credit Union Association, according to the same report.

Where the tool stands

It is not close. Ottawa announced plans to consult on a CRA income verification tool in Budget 2024, and the 2024 Fall Economic Statement reported consultations underway, with implementation targeted to begin in early 2025.

In a May 2026 response to an Order Paper question, summarized by Canadian Mortgage Trends, the CRA said it “remains committed to evaluating options” for a secure digital tool. It said it can implement the measure “once the appropriate policy and legislative authorities are in place, and a source of funding is confirmed,” and that initial steps could be delivered roughly 12 to 18 months after those authorities and safeguards are secured. Its consultations found broad support for a portal that would let mortgage professionals obtain information with the borrower’s authorization, ideally in real time.

In plain terms: even if the green light came tomorrow, a working tool would be more than a year away. Nothing in these reports describes a start date, and no one should plan a mortgage around one.

How income is verified today

Without a direct CRA link, lenders rely on what the file contains and on checks they can run. The federal regulator’s underwriting guideline for banks, OSFI Guideline B-20, expects lenders to verify and document a borrower’s income and employment, and the details differ by lender and by how the borrower earns.

• Salaried employees: typically a recent pay stub and a letter of employment, sometimes with T4 slips or a call to the employer.
• Self-employed or commission: usually T1 Generals and Notices of Assessment, often for more than one year, because lenders look at what was declared and assessed.
• Bank statements: used to confirm that deposits match the income described, and to trace any large unexplained deposit.

We went deeper on the self-employed side in how lenders actually assess self-employed income, and on what lenders look for in applications in what lenders check for fraud.

How to be ready, tool or no tool

A direct CRA check would reduce friction for borrowers whose paperwork is honest and clean. You can get most of that benefit already by making your file easy to confirm.

• Make sure your tax filings are current. A Notice of Assessment is only available for a year you have filed, and a lender cannot lean on a year you have not.
• Keep your CRA My Account access working. Your assessments and tax slips are available there, and having access in order saves days when a lender asks for them.
• Match the story across documents. Income on the application, the pay stubs and the tax filings should tell one consistent story. Differences are fine when explained, and a problem when they are discovered.
• Explain unusual deposits before you are asked. A bonus, a gift or a sale proceeds each needs a paper trail. Our piece on gift letters shows what that looks like.

What else MPC supported in the same hearing

The committee was studying Bill C-31, the second Budget 2025 implementation act. According to the bill’s text on Parliament’s site, Division 7 of Part 4 raises the aggregate limit on loans insured under the Protection of Residential Mortgage or Hypothecary Insurance Act to $500 billion. Canadian Mortgage Trends reports the previous figure was $300 billion, and that MPC supported the change along with an increase in the securities guarantee ceiling.

Toor also backed allowing private mortgage insurers to cover properties with up to eight units, up from four, a change she said could make smaller multi-unit housing projects more viable. These are proposals at committee stage and not yet law. Bill C-31 was still before the House committee when the bill page was last checked, so none of this changes what a lender will approve today.