Tax season shouldn't mean tearing apart the house for last year's notice of assessment
The annual ritual
It is April. Your accountant sends the email you have been expecting: "I need last year's notice of assessment, your T4s, and your RRSP contribution receipts." You know you have them. You filed them somewhere. Probably.
What follows is the annual document hunt. The desk drawer. The email search for "CRA" sorted by date. The bank portal you have not logged into since last year. The folder on your computer labelled "Taxes 2025" that may or may not contain what you need.
What the CRA actually needs
The document list is not as long as it feels. For most employed Canadians, your accountant needs a handful of specific items:
T4 slips from each employer -- your employment income summary.
RRSP contribution receipts -- from your bank or investment provider, showing contributions made in the tax year or the first 60 days of the next.
Last year's notice of assessment -- the CRA's summary of your previous tax return. Your accountant uses this to verify your RRSP contribution room.
T5 slips -- if you earned investment income, dividends, or interest outside a registered account.
Receipts for deductions -- charitable donations, childcare expenses, medical expenses, moving expenses if you relocated for work.
If you are self-employed, add your business income and expense records, GST/HST filings, and any T4A slips from contract work.
The "ask, don't search" approach
Here is where the annual ritual changes. Instead of opening folders and scanning documents, you type a question: "What was my RRSP contribution last year?"
Archevi reads your uploaded documents, finds the RRSP receipt, and gives you the number -- with the exact page cited so you can verify it. No digging. No guessing which folder it is in.
Setting up once
The best time to set this up is not during tax season. It is right after. When you have just filed and all the documents are fresh, upload your entire tax folder to Archevi. Every T4, every receipt, every notice of assessment.
Automatic date extraction. Archevi reads the tax year from each document and organises them chronologically.
Amount recognition. Key figures like income, contributions, and deductions are extracted and made searchable.
Expiry alerts. Set reminders for the RRSP contribution deadline (first 60 days), the filing deadline (April 30), and instalment payment dates.
Accountant sharing. Share specific documents with your accountant without giving them access to everything.
Keep tax records for at least six years from the end of the tax year. CRA can audit you within that window. Archevi stores documents as long as your account is active, but make sure you also have a backup.
Next April
Imagine next April. The accountant's email arrives. You open Archevi, ask for what they need, and send it over in five minutes. No hunting. No logging into three different bank portals. No opening 40 emails looking for the right PDF.
Tax season is stressful enough without the document scavenger hunt. Set up once, and it handles itself every year after.
Start with this year's tax documents. Upload your T4s, RRSP receipts, and notice of assessment to Archevi today. Next April, you will thank yourself.
