Results

Taxpayer and business assistance

Performance results 

Digital services

Canadian taxpayers are seeking increasingly convenient ways to get information to meet their tax obligations and receive their benefit entitlements. To this end, the CRA always looks for ways to meet their needs and expectations by providing information through a variety of means that are convenient and easy to use. The web is the mainstay of the Agency's communications efforts. In 2016-2017, taxpayers visited the CRA website over 200 million times and downloaded nearly 21 million forms and publications. We have been preparing for a seamless migration to the Canada.caⁱⁱ domain, where taxpayers use improved navigation to access the information they are searching for.

In 2016-2017, the CRA finalized preparations for the transition of all its web content to Canada.caⁱⁱ. For Canadian taxpayers seeking answers to their tax questions on the web, the Taxes tab on Canada.caⁱⁱ provides timely, accurate, and relevant information. We update our web content regularly to improve navigation and clarify information. The Agency also uses web analytics and usability testing to help us understand how Canadians use this information, and to assess and monitor the effectiveness of the content. As part of our efforts to make access to our information as convenient as possible, the CRA's web content is designed to display on any electronic device: smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.

Twitter and YouTube

Canadians continue to seek information and updates through innovative platforms, such as videos on the CRA's YouTube channel and tweets from our Twitter account. We have responded to these demands by expanding the variety and reach of our social media campaigns to better serve taxpayers who choose these media. The CRA uses Twitter as a way to interact with Canadians; it allows us to widely share our web content and YouTube videos about the services we provide. The CRA's video series on its YouTube channel is available in several languages.

Written correspondence

In 2016-2017, the CRA sent out about 130 million pieces of correspondence, including notices, statements, and letters. We have advanced our initiative to simplify of all our correspondence by making significant changes to the design, tone, and structure to make it easier for Canadians to understand their tax obligations. We have received positive feedback from taxpayers and some media outlets about these improvements.

KEY RESULTS

In 2016-2017:

• We received over 200 million visits to our webpages
• Nearly 21 million forms and publications available on the web were downloaded
• We posted 32 new or updated videos between April 2016 and March 2017; the English and French videos on our YouTube channels were viewed 156,305 times
• The most-viewed CRA video on YouTube was "Filing online — fast, easy, and secure," with over 7,000 views, whereas the most viewed video on the CRA website, "How to register for My Account," was viewed over seven million times
• Since 2015, 75% of all external correspondence has been redesigned to be simpler and clearer

Outreach and the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program

The CRA engaged with and visited representatives from a variety of vulnerable population segments in 2016-2017. All outreach visits are conducted with the following goals in mind:

• to heighten awareness of benefits and credits available through tax filing
• to provide tools and tips on how to file
• to promote, recruit, and support new organizations and volunteers to participate in the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP)

The CRA established partnerships with other government departments—such as Employment and Social Development Canada and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada—to collaborate on several initiatives aimed at building a whole-of-government approach to engagement with Indigenous peoples on benefits promotion.

As part of the Government of Canada's commitment to improve service to Canadians, we also maintained support to those who need help to meet their tax obligations, specifically through the CVITP. This program offers free clinics to help prepare income tax and benefit returns for eligible individuals, particularly those with a modest income.

Funding from Budget 2016 has allowed the CRA to strengthen the services offered by the CVITP, recruit additional organizations and volunteers, and increase the number of taxpayers getting help to complete their returns through the program. To this end, the CRA has made improvements in the following areas:

• process: we clarified wording about the registration process for volunteers and organizations
• training: we created two new courses for returning volunteers and organizations, and updated all courses with new wording and some with new images
• technology: we conducted research to find better tools to track and report on the CVITP, and created online self-study courses to be piloted in 2017-2018

KEY RESULTS

In 2016-2017:

• In collaboration with Service Canada, we visited 237 Indigenous communities
• We doubled the number of CVITP community organizations holding clinics on reserves to 193
• The CVITP assisted 702,965 individuals
• The CVITP helped complete 768,349 tax returns

Telephone programs

The CRA's call centres handle millions of tax enquiries every year and remain a key channel for providing service to taxpayers. While we have achieved a great deal of success in providing comprehensive and responsive information services online and self-service options on the telephone, the volume of calls continues to grow and the nature of calls are, on average, more complex and time-consuming. With the shift toward increasingly complex and longer calls, we have faced ongoing challenges with having sufficient resources. Although self-service options continue to improve and meet the needs of Canadians in new ways, the CRA finds that these services can create new reasons for Canadians to call the CRA. These reasons can include obtaining technical support to access a service, or to discuss a complex topic after having researched the details on our website.

Although we have achieved our annual service objectives, we are continuing to take steps to address the challenges in responding to call demand and continually improving the quality of the information provided to callers. The table below provides a detailed breakdown of the manner in which calls to our individual and business enquiries call centres were treated.

During the last quarter of 2016-2017, we integrated our e-Services Helpdesk with our individual and business enquiries lines to reduce the need to call more than one phone line. Also, CRA phone agents now have the ability to provide callers with a security access code, allowing individual taxpayers to register for My Account immediately, rather than waiting five to ten business days to receive the security code by mail. The CRA also expanded the number of transactions available to callers through our automated Interactive Voice Response allowing callers to obtain information or perform many common transactions without requiring assistance from an agent. Access to our automated Interactive Voice Response is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

KEY RESULTS

In 2016-2017: 

• We answered 19.5 million income tax and business-related calls through agents and automated services
• We met our service standard target of 80% for timeliness by answering calls within two minutes of callers entering the agent queue 81% of the time for individual enquiries and 82% of the time for business enquiries
• 87% of business and individual callers were assisted through agent or automated services

Charities

The CRA is responsible for administering registration for charities, registered Canadian amateur athletic associations, and registered national arts service organizations. The Agency develops guidance products to help charities understand the requirements of registration. In 2016-2017, we published new guidance products to help taxpayers, as well as our first Report on the Charities Program 2015-16 to increase transparency through the sharing of information about how the CRA regulates charities.

The CRA also engaged in several charitable sector conferences and seminars over the 2016-2017 year allowing us to:

• learn more about the environment in which charities are operating and the challenges they face
• offer valuable information to registered charities
• demonstrate our commitment to the overall social well-being of Canadians by being an engaged regulator of the charitable sector

As part of the Government of Canada's commitment to clarifying the rules that govern the participation of charities in political activities and making it easier for them to comply with tax laws, extensive online and in-person consultations were held with over 165 public and charitable sector representatives in seven cities across the country. Subsequently, a consultation panel composed of five experts on the charitable sector reviewed the feedback and presented its report to the Minister of National Revenue in March 2017. The Minister has shared the report with the Department of Finance to act on suggestions for changes to the Income Tax Act; the Government of Canada will carefully review it to inform its future regulation of charities.

KEY RESULTS

In 2016-2017:

• We provided timely response to applications for charitable registration: 89% of simple applications were answered within two months, and 86% of regular applications were answered within six months. We surpassed our target of 80% in both instances
• We processed 82,846 registered charity information returns
• We audited 812 charities, including all those known to be participating in gifting tax shelters

Policy, rulings, and interpretations

Taxpayers, businesses, tax professionals, and industry associations depend on the CRA for current and accurate technical tax information. Over the course of 2016-2017, the rulings the CRA issued helped ensure its key priorities of compliance and service were met. We also improved service to taxpayers and other stakeholders through the following income tax measures:

• increased capacity in various centres across the country
• published income tax folios
• prepared for the July 2017 launch of our Dedicated Telephone Service

In regard to this last measure, our new Dedicated Telephone Service gives a predetermined number of income tax service providers who prepare returns and advise a large number of taxpayers access by telephone to rulings officers. Facilitating access to experienced staff to help with complex technical income tax enquiries leaves lines open and call centre agents available on our general enquiries lines; this will help improve service to the rest of the Canadian tax-paying public.

To improve service to taxpayers with respect to GST/HST, in May 2016, the CRA began accepting online requests for GST/HST rulings or interpretations through the new Submit Documents feature in My Business Account and Represent a Client. We also built on the efficiencies gained by implementing a new inventory model that routes policy or precedent-setting written requests for GST/HST rulings and interpretations to a technical expert in a timelier manner. Lastly, the CRA assisted with the implementation of rate increases for the harmonized sales tax in the following ways.

• We provided support to New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island
• We provided information and responses to enquiries from taxpayers

KEY RESULTS

In 2016-2017:

• We received over 1.1 million site visits to our newly published, web-friendly income tax folios
• We received over one million site visits to GST/HST technical publications, including technical information made available by the effective date of a change in legislation
• We provided 2,482 GST/HST rulings and interpretations
• We completed 2,250 income tax technical interpretations, 87% of which were completed within 90 business days, exceeding our service standard target of 85%
• We provided 129 advance income tax rulings
• We completed 90% of CPP/EI rulings on time
• We responded to 90,821 GST/HST technical telephone enquiries

Registered plans

Registered plans are an important financial tool for many Canadians. Through tax exemptions, deductions, and deferrals, the Government of Canada encourages and helps Canadians to save for education, disability, and retirement. The CRA registers and monitors deferred-income and savings plans such as employee pension plans, retirement savings plans, education savings plans, disability savings plans, and tax-free savings accounts. We participate in the deferred-income and savings plans sector in Canada by promoting compliance with legislation through a combination of outreach, education, and verification.

The CRA pursues service excellence and innovation through process and system transformations. We are expanding our capacity to communicate with clients by making it possible for them to provide more registered plans forms through an online tool. We are actively seeking a solution to enable full electronic communication with registered plan administrators.

Canadians who rely on registered plans to help them secure income for the future depend on the CRA to protect the integrity of the tax-deferred savings system in Canada. The CRA strives to make sure registered plans comply with legislative requirements—while reducing the administrative burden on plan administrators—by collaborating with our federal and provincial counterparts.

In administering the laws that apply to registered plans, however, we continued to face a number of challenges during 2016-2017 in meeting three of our service standards.

• Responding to written enquiries for deferred-income plans within sixty days at least 80% of the time, where our achievement was 65%.
• Responding to requests for recommended employer contributions to a registered pension plan within 270 days of receipt of the actuarial report at least 80% of the time, where our achievement was 54%.
• Providing a decision within 180 calendar days of receipt of an application to register a pension plan at least 85% of the time, where our achievement was 82%.

In response to missing our targets for these standards, we are committed both to putting the necessary staff in place over the coming year to address existing backlogs and to identifying the underlying issues that are contributing to these performance shortfalls, which we have experienced over the past number of years.

KEY RESULTS

In 2016-2017:

• We responded to 65% of written enquiries for deferred-income plans within 60 days
• We reviewed 82% of the applications to register pension plans within 180 days
• We approved 54% of requests for eligible contributions within 270 days
• We audited 364 registered plans

Taxpayer and business assistance