After he returned mistaken $24K tax refund, his CRA account was locked, actual tax refunds delayed

Alex Pilon was stunned when he saw $24,274.26 deposited into his cant calculate in process of endure twelvemonth labelled "Tax Refund - Canada."

The 35-year-old says it was "clearly a mistake" since he had not yet filed his tax return at that point. He contacted the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and returned the full amount within a few days. 

"Someone in the government building probably put the wrong social insurance number and I'm the one that got that tax return, or it actually is a fraud. It's hard to tell," he said.

Shortly after, he lost access to his CRA account.

A year and a half later, the Thunder Bay, Ont., resident still has not received his tax refunds. He was expecting $1,530.51 for 2024 and $1,380.99 for 2025. He was also entitled to a GST/HST credit totalling $412.19, which he never got.

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"I still haven't seen the colour of that money yet," he said. "I've been going back and forth with calling agents and being on hold for many hours."

The CRA did not comment on Pilon's case, citing privacy reasons.

Pilon is not alone in experiencing delays and service issues when dealing with the agency.

Despite a 100-day plan ordered by the federal government last fall to improve its service and hire more workers in its call centres, the CRA continues to struggle with response times, and many Canadians are feeling the brunt of it.

In a scathing report published last month, Canada's tax watchdog, the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson, noted a 27 per cent spike in complaints received by the Canada Revenue Agency, which totalled more than 3,500 complaints in the 2025-26 fiscal year. 

"This year, we saw the highest number of complaints since the pandemic," ombudsperson François Boileau wrote in the report.

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The Union of Taxation Employees, which represents CRA workers, says that while the federal agency hired some 2,500 new employees for the busy tax season, most were assigned to call centres and the bottleneck remained in processing tax returns. 

"Our members are feeling the pressure," the union's national president Marc Brière said.

"They are short-staffed, especially in the taxation centres, where they're processing the taxpayers' files and there are delays, and people are doing overtime."

The union is calling on the CRA and the federal government to hire more workers permanently to improve service and reduce the backlog.

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It normally takes up to eight weeks after filing a tax return to receive a refund — and up to 20 weeks for adjustment claims, according to Brière, who says adjustment claims can now take upwards of 50 weeks. 

"I think it's unacceptable," he said.

The statement noted that though the results were encouraging, the agency would remain focused on "addressing and further improving service standards" and would continue to "work closely with the Ombudsperson to address service issues and strengthen transparency in a measured and sustainable way."

Last month, the taxpayers' watchdog launched an investigation to shed light on the options available to Canadians who experience issues with the CRA. 

In a media release at the time, Boileau, the ombudsperson said the public expects good service.

"It is not always possible to prevent issues before they happen, so it is important that the CRA's complaint and recourse processes be efficient, effective, fair and timely," the release said. 

Meanwhile, Pilon is feeling "frustrated" and "powerless" as he waits for the CRA to resolve the problem.

"I feel, as a citizen, there's not much we can do," he said. 

While the agency can impose penalties and charge interest for unpaid tax returns, he wonders if he's entitled to some sort of compensation.

"Are you going to [pay] me interest then because you're running late?"

The Thunder Bay resident even contacted his local MP, Marcus Powlowski, to help resolve the problem and expedite his tax refunds.

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He said Powlowski's office initially said he would receive a payment on March 20, then on May 20. Then Pilon says he was told that a timeline couldn't be set because his case was still "under review."

"I just bought a home, so it'd be great to use it towards that, but also, that's my money. Like, you're holding onto it," Pilon said.

William Fassett, Powlowski's chief of staff, did not specify what steps the MP's office took regarding this case, but said he was in close contact with Pilon. 

Pilon hopes sharing his story can help other Canadians experiencing the same thing.

"Hopefully it's gonna speed up the process."

Philippe de Montigny is Radio-Canada’s business correspondent in Toronto.

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