Section II: Analysis of program activities by strategic outcome
Strategic outcome
Taxpayers meet their obligations and Canada's revenue base is protected.
Program activity 1: Taxpayers and business assistance
Program activity description
- Assisting taxpayers and businesses in meeting their obligations under the self-assessment system through the provision of accurate and timely responses to their enquiries; information products through various media such as, Website, pamphlets and brochures; targeted outreach activities and services; income and commodity tax rulings and interpretations; Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance Act eligibility determinations; services relating to the registration of pension and other deferred income plans; and services relating to the registration of charities.
Planned spending
|
Total authorities
|
|
---|---|---|
408,190
|
535,703
|
530,542
|
Planned
|
Actual
|
Difference
|
---|---|---|
4,275
|
4,067
|
208
|
Expected results
|
Performance indicators
|
Targets
|
Actual results
|
---|---|---|---|
Taxpayers, businesses and registrants have access to timely and accurate tax information products and services
|
Percentage of 16 service standards in force for taxpayer and business assistance that meet targeted performance standard
|
100%
|
Met
|
Percentage of accurately updated internal reference materials for taxpayer services and charities agents
|
100%
|
Met
|
|
Non-compliance with applicable legislation by organizations and businesses administering and/or producing registered plans, charities, and excise dutiable products is detected and addressed
|
Percentage of charities, registered plans, and commodity audits and activities completed compared to planned
|
90%
|
Met
|
Performance summary and analysis of program activity
Providing information
Web site
The CRA's Web site is our primary channel for providing general information to taxpayers and their representatives. We maintain 155,000 pages of information, which are regularly updated. We also actively search out best practices in Web site management and apply them where feasible and appropriate for our site.
- This past year we received 87.4 million visits to our Web site.
Outreach
In 2011-2012, the CRA continued to offer a variety of channels for providing information to taxpayers, such as face-to-face information sessions and webinars, which are Internet-based, interactive presentations. These offer taxpayers important information about starting a small business, registering for a GST/HST account, payroll requirements, preparing T4 slips, and more. They are also available for charities, scientific research and experimental development programs, tax preparers, and tax professionals. We also offer taxpayers a number of online videos about CRA programs and initiatives. We have been expanding the range of information that is available online so that taxpayers can get the information they need when they need it, from their home or office.
In 2011-2012, we:
- delivered 26 webinars.
- delivered 3,686 outreach sessions to more than 89,000 participants.
- released a video on our Web site entitled Preparing your Income Tax and Benefit Return.
- released four videos for businesses – Starting Your Business, Payroll Information for a New Small Business, Keeping Records, and Reporting Business Income and Expenses.
Social media
The CRA has been steadily building its capacity to offer information through popular social media tools such as YouTube and Twitter. During this year's tax season, we expanded the use of social media. This included tweeting news releases, tax tips, and notices of conviction for tax evasion as well as guiding audiences to content on our Web site. Our messages are commonly re-tweeted to a wider audience, which has further increased the number of CRA followers.
- Tweets during tax filing season reached more than 40,000 users.
In November, we launched a pilot project to progress from merely sharing messages on Twitter to interacting with followers. We began answering questions and offering assistance by tweeting links to our Web site. Through this exchange, we provided information on more than 20 topics ranging from tax credits to changes of address to finding the nearest tax services office.
We also continued to use CRA's YouTube channel to share informative videos about new tax credits like the children's art tax credit and our Netfile service.
- Our YouTube videos were viewed more than 36,500 times during 2011-2012.
Taxpayer interactions
Telephone services
The CRA's telephone services provide general information to taxpayers, and also help with more complex enquiries. Taxpayers prefer to find general information themselves on our Web site and then call the CRA if they need further explanation or information on how it applies to their specific circumstances.
- In 2011-2012, through agent and automated services, we answered 16,999,922 calls.
Processing services
Early certainty
Some taxpayers ask the CRA for written information on how a tax law applies in a specific context. The CRA provides non-binding, written technical interpretations on a particular aspect of tax law to help taxpayers ensure that they are compliant with the transactions they may be considering. Advance income tax rulings on a specific transaction proposed by a taxpayer are binding on the CRA, provided that the taxpayer undertakes the transaction as described. This technical service helps taxpayers by giving them the information they need to conduct their tax affairs with confidence and certainty in Canada and across international borders.
- The turnaround time for technical interpretations to taxpayers met our service standard for the fourth consecutive year.
Meeting our service standard for providing advance income tax rulings within 60 days has proved challenging for the CRA. These rulings often involve issues of great technical complexity and the workload is also often influenced by factors that are beyond the control of the CRA, such as legislative changes and court rulings. To respond, we made changes to the workflow process and revised our service standard for advanced income tax rulings. These changes set a challenging but realistic service standard for the CRA. We will explore opportunities to reduce workload pressures by providing comprehensive online information services that will give taxpayers the degree of early certainty they need to make informed decisions.
Complex intervention
Charities
Registered charities in Canada are tax exempt and can issue charitable donation receipts to donors. To keep these privileges, registered charities must file a registered charity information return and financial statements, and they must operate within the parameters of the Income Tax Act.
Although cases of serious and intentional non-compliance are not widespread, they do exist. Examples include abusive tax shelter schemes as described in the aggressive tax planning section, issuing false receipts, and unacceptable fundraising practices.
The level of compliance by registered charities is high and remains stable in comparison to prior years. The long-term filing rate remains high with the latest data available showing a rate of 98%.
- In 2011-2012, 1,104 registered charities were revoked for failure to file their annual return;
- We completed 713 audits of registered charities;
- Random audits resulted in three charities having their charitable status revoked.
Lessons learned
Consistent with the increased use of technology, the CRA has developed a series of tax information videos, which have the potential to expand the CRA's reach to individuals and businesses across Canada. We carefully monitored our caller volume, and maintained our high caller accessibility levels on all of our enquiries lines using additional resources as required. We did not meet our service standard for issuing advance income tax rulings: we recognize that we need to evolve this service, and our service commitment, to reflect the growing number and complexity of requests. Overall, we will continue to enhance our service offerings while maintaining reliable, secure systems so that taxpayers and businesses are equipped with information and tools needed to navigate and understand an often-complex tax system.
Indicators
|
Target
|
2009-2010
|
2010-2011
|
2011-2012
|
Rating
|
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Average number of days to issue technical interpretation to taxpayers
|
90 days (avg)
|
89
|
87
|
90
|
Met
|
Average number of days to issue an advance income tax ruling to taxpayers
|
60 days (avg)
|
98
|
102
|
106
|
Not met
|
Percentage of general callers who reach our telephone service
|
90%
|
91%
|
92%
|
91%
|
Met
|
Percentage of business callers who reach our telephone service
|
90%
|
93%
|
92%
|
90%
|
Met
|
Percentage of Canada Child Tax Benefit (
CCTB) callers who reach our telephone service
|
90%
|
92%
|
92%
|
91%
|
Met
|
Percentage of
GST/
HST credit callers who reach our telephone service
|
90%
|
91%
|
91%
|
90%
|
Met
|
Responses to simple charities applications within two months
|
80%
|
81.9%
|
87.5%
|
85.9%
|
Met
|
Responses to regular charities applications within six months
|
80%
|
79.8%
|
96.2%
|
91.3%
|
Met
|
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