Quick Access for individuals, a new e-service which provides basic tax information for Canadians Online, was launched Thursday by the Canada Revenue Agency.

The service gives taxpayers secure access to basic personal tax and benefit account information without having to telephone the CRA.

Quick Access is easy to understand and easy to use. The service provides individuals with the convenience and flexibility of seeing basic tax-related information, within a secure Web site, seven days a week.

With Quick Access, the CRA says Canadians can access information about their tax return status, RRSP deduction limits, Canada Child Tax Benefit payment status, GST/HST credit payment status; and Universal Child Care Benefit payment status.

To use Quick Access, individuals will need to provide their social insurance number, date of birth and the amount entered on line 150 (Total income) of their 2006 or 2007 income tax return.

The CRA stresses that the service is completely secure and uses sophisticated security technology and procedures to protect both confidential taxpayer information and the website.

CRA says taxpayers can also choose to completely block online access to their account information by requesting that no online access be permitted. Taxpayers can choose to enable online access again at any time.