How do I get through the phone menu to a real live person?
GetHuman researchers routinely call this Canada Revenue phone number to document the phone system.
Here is our latest tip for weaving through the phone menu to get to a real person the fastest:Press 1 then * at each prompt.
Below are some clips we've found from Canada Revenue's phone menus and tips that help give an idea of what you will encounter when you call. We've highlighted why they are important as well:
Heard when the phone system first answers
"You for calling the Canada Revenue Agency's individual tax inquiry service.
Please listen carefully to our menu before you make a selection as some of the options have changed.
Please choose one of the following five options.
For online services, including unlocking my account, press one.
For forms or publications, press two."
Excerpt from a call with Canada Revenue
Wednesday, January 3, 2024 4:49 PM
The first phone menu
"Thank you for calling the Canada Revenue Agency's individual tax inquiry service.
Please choose one of the following five options.
For estates and trusts, to update your personal information or all other inquiries, press five.
To repeat this message, press star.
For online services, including unlocking my account, press one.
For forms or publications, press two."
Excerpt from a call with Canada Revenue
Tuesday, April 2, 2024 11:15 PM
After you press 1
"For registered plans or the tax free savings account, press three.
If you need help registering for my account, press one."
Excerpt from a call with Canada Revenue
Thursday, April 11, 2024 4:54 PM
After you press 4
"For estates and trusts, to update your for your account balance, how to make a payment or about misallocated payments, press one.
For your income tax refund, press two."
Excerpt from a call with Canada Revenue
Wednesday, April 3, 2024 9:03 PM
What are the hours and when should I call?
Canada Revenue operates the call center for this 800-959-8281 phone number Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm ET.The short answer is that you should call on a Friday.This observation and the following section are based on analysis of a sample set of 102 calls made in the last 90 days using our free, web-based phone (see above).
An important note: busy times vs hold times vs best time to call
When we refer to busy or less busy times, we are talking about the volume of calls. The busiest times are when the most people are calling this Canada Revenue phone number (least busy times have fewer people calling). This high call volume does not necessarily mean that you will have a long hold time when you call. Companies like Canada Revenue staff their call centers differently based on the time of day and day of the week, so you may experience a shorter wait on hold at the busiest of times. When we refer to the best time to call, we are referring to the optimal combination of lower call volume and shorter wait times.
The least busy time to call
The least busy day to call Canada Revenue is Friday.The most busy day to call is Monday, which averages 73% more phone calls by comparison.Again, this is based on a sample of 102 calls made with our AI-powered, web-based phone in the last 90 days.
Mon
Busiest
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Quietest
The shortest wait on hold
We measured the shortest hold times to be on Friday.The longest wait in the queue on average occurs on Thursday.
The best time to call
In summation, the best day to call Canada Revenue is Friday.In this case, it's a no-brainer. Friday is not only the least busy day for calling this Canada Revenue number, but it is also the day with the shortest hold times.
Why call this Canada Revenue number?
Below is a sample of recent calls to Canada Revenue, and their purpose. Are any of these similar to the reason you are trying to call?
Update contact information: "I'm just looking if I can my email added so that I can get it through my email."
- From a call lasting 18m 21s , Mar 7, 2024 10:25 PM
Assistance with tax documents: "I'm on disability. I don't know what this is."
- From a call lasting 19m 40s , Feb 7, 2024 6:48 PM
Seeking verification of letter: "I'm just trying to confirm this is actually a letter from you guys, or am I this guy they're just trying to take me for, like, sixty thousand dollars to be able to release this money."
- From a call lasting 31m 32s , Feb 6, 2024 11:42 PM
Technical phone issue: "My phone's bugger. I thought I sorry for your name."
- From a call lasting 15m 28s , Feb 5, 2024 5:46 PM
Inquiring about government payments: "I was just wondering, I do get GST this month, is there any other type of money that's gonna be coming into effect this month too, or is it just the GST?"
- From a call lasting 5m 30s , Jan 3, 2024 4:49 PM
More Ways to Contact Canada Revenue Customer Service
There are of course other ways to contact Canada Revenue customer service besides the phone. Below we list the best ones, by medium.
As a last, sometimes only, resort- Canada Revenue customer service can be accessed through their website. This can entail digging through help articles before finding a form and "being allowed" to submit a problem to their team, and rarely leads to a real-time conversation, which is why GetHuman does not recommend this unless it's the only way.
Conclusion and closing notes
This is Canada Revenue's best phone number, the real-time current wait on hold and tools for skipping right through those phone lines to get right to a Canada Revenue agent. This phone number is Canada Revenue's best phone number because 29,532 customers like you used this contact information over the last 18 months and gave us feedback. Common problems addressed by the customer care unit that answers calls to 800-959-8281 include Account Access, Ask For Tax Help, Setup Payment Arrangement, Track a Refund, Request a Statement and other customer service issues. The Canada Revenue call center that you call into has employees from Canada and is open Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm ET according to customers. In total, Canada Revenue has 6 phone numbers. It's not always clear what is the best way to talk to Canada Revenue representatives, so we started compiling this information built from suggestions from the customer community. Please keep sharing your experiences so we can continue to improve this free resource.
GetHuman does not provide call center services or customer support operations for Canada Revenue. The two organizations are not related. GetHuman builds free tools and shares information to help customers of companies like Canada Revenue. For large companies that includes tools such as our GetHuman Phone, which allows you to call a company but skip the part where you wait on the line to get a live human rep. We continue to work on these tools to help customers like you (and ourselves!) navigate the messy phone menus, hold times, and confusion with customer service. As long as you keep sharing it with your friends and loved ones, we'll keep doing it.