Third-party organizations

Important notices

Postal strike and TRA requirements

Regardless of a postal delay, taxpayers and other entities required to make filings and payments with Tax and Revenue Administration (TRA) are still responsible to ensure those obligations are met. All applicable penalties and interest will continue to apply.

For more information about your obligations when a mail disruption occurs including electronic filing and payments, refunds, mail, and courier options, read: Special Notice Vol.8 No.7 – Mail Disruption Contingency Plan for all Programs

Overview

A firm or individual that represents one or more clients for Alberta corporate income tax may enrol with TRA to access client’s corporate income tax account information online using TRACS.

See the What is a Third-party organization and How to Enrol video for more information.

Functions available to third-party organizations

Once enrolled, a third-party organization can:

add or remove representatives
generate a pre-populated consent form for the client to certify
manage who has access to a specific client’s corporate income tax account within the firm
access client corporate income tax account information including:
- instalment and account balances
- assessment statuses
- notices of assessment and reassessment
submit supporting documents within a client’s account
update a client’s address
complete a notice of objection within a client’s account
create and manage groups of representatives and client accounts within the third-party organization account
view reports

How to enrol

A representative from the third-party organization, who has an Alberta government-issued photo ID and is one of the following can complete the third-party organization enrolment form online:

owner
corporate director
partner of a partnership
trustee of an estate
an individual with delegated authority

The person completing the third-party organization enrolment form will have full access including:

adding or removing clients
adding or removing other representatives
creating or modifying groups
viewing reports

See the What is a Third-party organization and How to Enrol video for more information.

Note: The third-party organization’s Corporate Account Number (CAN) or Federal Business Number (FBN) is required to enrol.

Step 1: Create or sign into your Alberta.ca Account

Create a verified account.
Enter the activation code received in the mail on the Manage account page to complete the verification process.
See Common questions at Alberta.ca Account for more information.

Continue to Alberta.ca Account

Step 2: Complete the Third-Party Enrolment form in TRACS

Once the verification process is complete, login to TRACS. Sign in using your Alberta.ca Account user name and password. Once you sign in, you will be redirected to TRACS.
Select ‘Online Registration.’
Choose 'Third-Party Organization' from the Program Name menu.

Step 3: Complete and submit the online enrolment form

If approved, you will immediately be re-directed to your TRACS home page.
If further review is required after you submit your enrolment, you will receive a pending status notification and a reference number. TRA may need to contact you for further information.
You will receive an approval email once your enrolment has been processed.

How to add a client’s account

See the Manage Clients video for more information including how to remove a client's account.

Step 1: Create the consent form

Log in to your third-party organization’s TRACS account and select ‘Manage Clients.’
Select ‘Create Client Consent Form.’
Enter the client’s corporate legal name and Alberta corporate account (access) number (CAN).
Review the account privileges and de-select the privileges not required for this specific client.

Step 2: Client completes the certification section

Send the pre-populated consent form to your client.
The client completes the certification section and then sends the consent form back to you.

Step 3: Upload the consent form

Log in to your third-party organization’s TRACS account and select ‘Manage Client.’
Select ‘Upload Consent Form.’
Select the appropriate client’s account from the list.
Upload the completed consent form:
- PDF versions will validate immediately
- JPEG or other scanned images will take longer to validate.
- You will be notified if the upload was successful.

How to add a representative

See the Manage Representatives video for more information including how to modify a representative’s role or remove a representative.

Step 1: Add representative

Log in to your third-party organization’s TRACS account and select ‘Manage Representatives.’
Select ‘Add Representative.’
Enter the representative’s first and last name and select the user role.
Give the PIN number created and third-party organization account number (BIN) to the representative.

Step 2: Representative enrols

The representative creates or logs in to their own Alberta.ca Account.
- Must have a verified account if they were set up as a Third-Party Representative Lead role in Step 1.

Step 3: Representative adds account

Add account by entering the account number (BIN) and PIN.

How to create a group

See the Manage Groups video for more information including how to create a new group or modify an existing group.

Step 1: Create a group

Log in to your third-party organization’s TRACS account and select ‘Manage Groups.’
Select 'Create Group.'
Enter the name of the group and if applicable, enter a description.

Step 2: Add client accounts to the group

Search for client’s accounts by legal name or corporate account number (CAN.)
Select the client account(s) from the list and select 'Add Client(s).'
Repeat this step to add more client accounts (if applicable.)

Step 3: Add representatives to the group

Search for representatives by first name, last name or both.
Select the representative(s) from the list and select ‘Add Representative(s).’
Repeat this step to add more representatives (if applicable.)

Step 4: Review and submit

Review selected client(s) and representative(s).
Select 'Submit' to create the group.

Videos

TRACS help topics

Account number

An account number is necessary for enrolling into TRACS. It links you to the account that you wish to access.
The account number is your Alberta Business Identification Number (BIN), and is located at the top of all the Third-Party Organization TRACS pages.

Lost or expired PIN

If you have lost your personal identification number (PIN) or your PIN has expired, another must be issued.
To obtain another PIN, contact the individual or entity that issued your previous PIN.

Maintaining access to your TRACS account

For security and privacy reasons, it is important that an account owner controls who can access the account and what account information each individual is allowed to see.
It is good business practice to regularly review who has access to the account and modify permissions (access) accordingly.
Alberta Tax and Revenue Administration is not responsible for delegating or maintaining access to an account.

Automatic sign out after inactivity

For security purposes, you will be automatically logged out of TRACS after 15 minutes of session inactivity.
Note: due to a standard established by the Government of Alberta, you will also be required to confirm your login credentials after one hour of continuous session activity.

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Contact

Support regarding your Alberta.ca Account

See managing your account.

TRACS technical issues

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-3044
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

General inquiries

Connect with Tax and Revenue Administration:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Email: [email protected]

Notifications