Canada Revenue Agency Contact Centres
23 October 2025
Karen Hogan, Fellow Chartered Professional AccountantFCPA
Auditor General of Canada
Good morning Mr. Chair and thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee today to discuss our report on the Canada Revenue Agency’s contact centres which was tabled earlier this week. I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people. Joining me today are Andrew Hayes, Deputy Auditor General, and Mathieu Lequain, the principal who was responsible for the audit.
In this audit, we looked at whether the Canada Revenue Agency’s contact centres provided Canadians with timely and accurate information about personal taxes, benefits and business taxes.
The Canada Revenue Agency has a duty to help individuals and businesses meet their tax obligations and access benefits. I am concerned that in spite of a new call system and other improvements, Canadians are still waiting too long to get answers to their tax questions.
The agency’s service standard is to answer 65% of calls within 15 minutes or less. Callers choosing to speak with an agent waited on average 31 minutes in 2024–25, and just 18% got through to an agent within the standard. Furthermore, callers did not receive real‑time updates on their queue position, which limited their ability to decide whether to wait, use self‑service options or disconnect.
Auditors from our office placed calls to contact centres and asked general tax and benefit questions. We found agent responses to individual tax questions were accurate only 17% of the time, and business tax or benefits questions were accurate just over half of the time. To test the accuracy of agents’ responses to questions specific to an account, we reviewed a sample of recorded conversations. In contrast we found that accuracy was much higher when questions pertained to specific accounts.
The audit also found that in assessing contact centre agents’ performance, the CRA placed greater importance on how closely they adhered to their schedule for their shift and breaks than on the accuracy and completeness of information they provided to callers. This does not encourage a strong commitment to quality service.
Mr. Chair, this concludes my opening remarks. We would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have. Thank you.