THE Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) said Sunday all of its online systems have been restored to full service. Individuals, businesses and representatives are now able to file returns, make payments, and access all other e-services available through the CRA’s website, including all the CRA secure portals.

CRA said that on April 7, it was informed of an Internet security vulnerability named the Heartbleed Bug that had the potential to affect technology systems around the world. This represented a serious challenge for CRA, which has worked around the clock with Shared Services Canada to apply a “patch” or solution that addresses this vulnerability. Its effectiveness has been rigorously and successfully tested on CRA systems, resulting in restoration of its e-services.

“Our systems are back online. We apologize for the delay and the inconvenience it has caused to Canadians. That said, the delay was necessary. We could not allow these systems back online until we were fully confident they were safe and secure for Canadian taxpayers,” said CRA Commissioner Andrew Treusch.

“I would like to reiterate that interest and penalties will not be applied to individual taxpayers filing their 2013 tax returns after April 30, 2014 for a period equal to the length of the service interruption. This means individual tax returns for 2013 filed by May 5 will not incur interest or penalties,” said Minister of Revenue Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay.

“On behalf of the CRA, we are grateful for the collaboration of the public and our stakeholders, including our Community Volunteer Income Tax Program volunteers, the tax preparer community and the business community, for their cooperation and patience as we worked to resolve this service interruption.”

Further information is available through Frequently Asked Questions on the CRA website. The Agency says it remains committed to maintaining the confidence of Canadians by taking all steps necessary to ensure the confidentiality of taxpayer information.