2015-16 Report on Plans and Priorities

Section 2: Analysis of programs by strategic outcome

Internal services

Internal services are groups of related activities and resources that are administered to support the needs of programs and other corporate obligations of an organization. Internal services include only those activities and resources that apply across an organization, and not those provided to a specific program. The groups of activities are management and oversight services; communications services; legal services; human resources management services; financial management services; information management services; information technology services; real property services; materiel services; and acquisition services.

Budgetary financial information

(dollars)
2015-2016
Main Estimates 
2015-2016
planned spendingFootnote 1,Footnote 2
2016-2017
planned spendingFootnote 1,Footnote 2
2017-2018
planned spendingFootnote 1,Footnote 2
837,350,994 837,350,994 816,594,012 818,332,765

Human resources

(full-time equivalents)
2015-2016 2016-2017   2017-2018
7,541 7,398 7,304

Planning highlights

Human resources

The CRA's experienced and highly qualified experts in a wide variety of fields administer Canada's tax and benefit programs effectively, and with integrity, while serving Canadians from the Agency's offices in communities from coast to coast. The Agency is implementing strategies to maintain its high-performing workforce in order to meet both current and future needs, while transferring its values to new employees. The Agency's workforce strategies will address the reality of an increasing number of employees who are becoming eligible to retire.

The CRA's Agency Workforce Plan and action plans on official languages and employment equity and diversity contribute to maintaining a knowledgeable, competent workforce representing the Canadian population, while serving taxpayers in the official language of their choice. The Agency was recognized by the Canada's Top 100 Employers project as a top employer in the National Capital Region and a top employer for young people for 2014. To maintain an open dialogue, the CRA makes sure all employees have documented performance expectations, as well as mid-year and year-end discussions with their immediate supervisors to review performance.

 

The CRA's employees, working in communities from coast to coast, are committed to serving taxpayers with integrity and efficiency.

Deliverables

Reducing internal red tape

Reducing internal red tape is about constantly looking for ways to identify and eliminate unnecessary rules, procedures and processes to increase efficiency and support innovation. Internal red tape reduction was identified by employees during the Agency's recent Blueprint 2020 engagement process as a key priority. As a result, internal red tape reduction forms part of the Agency's Blueprint 2020 action plan. Through Blueprint 2020 and other Agency modernization initiatives CRA employees are encouraged to continuously seek opportunities to streamline processes and reduce duplication. In every branch and region, engaged staff are developing plans to reduce red tape and make red tape reduction a part of everyday business. For example, the Agency has converted 70% of its internal taxation operations manuals to electronic format to facility ease of use and the quicker updating of information and procedures. The CRA will be converting the remainder of its taxation operations manuals over the planning period.

Blueprint 2020

The CRA advocates and actively participates in Blueprint 2020, a government-wide exercise to shape the future Public Service of Canada. Blueprint 2020 represents a unique opportunity, inspiring the CRA to reinvent the workplace and reaffirm its commitment to service excellence. Through Blueprint 2020, the Agency is building a culture of engagement that taps into employee knowledge and experience to bring innovative, citizen-centric approaches to employees' everyday work. While many Blueprint 2020 initiatives focus on how the CRA workplace will evolve, the following goals and actions link directly to service excellence:

CRA Blueprint 2020 Goals  Actions

Improve service to Canadians through the use of modern technology by using e-tools to communicate with taxpayers.

For more information on this topic, see chapters on Taxpayer and business assistance and Assessment of returns and payment processing.

The Agency implements improvements to its e-communications service each year. The CRA will:

  • Develop the MyCRA mobile app so individuals can access refund and benefit information from mobile devices (2015)
  • Streamline the authentication process for the MyAccount secure online service (2015)
  • Enable individuals to register for the Manage Online Mail service to view correspondence such as notices of assessment in MyAccount (2015)
  • Accept additional prior-year returns through EFILE and NETFILE (2016)
  • Improve usability of Business Registration Online
  • Improve the CRA's Tax Data Delivery service, enabling representatives to request secure electronic transmission of some tax information from clients' accounts
Strengthen the performance management process.

Our employees are the foundation of service excellence. By equipping managers and employees to engage in meaningful discussion we can achieve optimal performance results. The CRA will:

  • Establish standardized expectations for CRA jobs with a high number of employees
  • Expand the CRA's upward feedback pilot project to include sites in additional regions and branches
  • Identify approaches to enhance teamwork in order to achieve Agency goals
Improve the staffing process.

Effective staffing is about putting the right people in the right place at the right time, better enabling the CRA to deliver service excellence. The CRA will:

  • Improve how the Agency manages staffing processes, and help build the CRA brand for external recruitment
  • Reduce staffing time by streamlining administration, and implementing national and regional selection processes

Information technology

The CRA's sophisticated information technology (IT) environment enables it to provide a responsive and secure Canadian tax and benefits delivery system. The Agency is able to handle large volumes of tax and benefit transactions and offer a broad range of e-service functions accurately, on time, efficiently, and cost-effectively with a suite of modern tools, systems, and IT-enabled solutions.

More than 60% of all transactions for individual returns, benefit payments, and payment processing are automated. This reliance on IT will increase as the CRA releases more electronic self-service options and as taxpayers adopt these tools.

IT innovation is at the core of the CRA's risk-based compliance strategies, enabling the Agency to quickly detect and correct errors, validate data, and direct enforcement resources to the highest-risk accounts. The CRA is upgrading its compliance systems to support these compliance activities.

The CRA has an IT sustainability program to make sure its major applications will continue to function effectively and can support continuous improvement in service delivery and compliance actions. Ongoing sustainability programs include the T1 Systems Redesign Project and reengineering the benefits system platform to strengthen the CRA's capacity to issue timely and accurate benefit payments to millions of Canadians annually. The Charities Modernization Project will support new electronic filing solutions, automate manual processes, and integrate charities into the suite of e-services.

All of the CRA's IT enhancements are supported by the IT Security Strategy, which guides the protection of taxpayer data and the actions to shield the IT infrastructure and data holdings from increasingly complex cyber threats.

The CRA works closely with Shared Services Canada to make sure IT infrastructure services meet the Agency's needs and support the federal government's approach to delivering reliable, secure, and lower-cost IT infrastructure services. The CRA will continue several joint initiatives with Shared Services Canada, including Data Centre Consolidation, Email Transformation, Contact Centre Transformation, and cyber and IT security measures.

 

More than 60% of all transactions for individual returns, benefit payments, and payment processing are automatic.

Deliverables

Integrity and security

Integrity and security are at the core of everything the CRA does. These values are incorporated into every aspect of the Agency's business strategy and decision-making. They guide how the CRA works, protects systems, safeguards taxpayer information, effectively manages programs, and supports employees in doing the right thing.

The CRA recognizes the importance of maintaining Canadians' trust and is committed to protecting all data it receives. The CRA has a significant internet presence and is managing a growing amount of confidential taxpayer data, therefore its security program must continue to meet or exceed the information technology security recommendations set out by the Government of Canada.

Every CRA employee is responsible for protecting the integrity of Agency programs, data, and systems. The Agency requires all employees to review and acknowledge annually their obligations under the Code of Ethics and Conduct and the Conflict of Interest Policy as a condition of employment. The CRA will continue to extensively screen employees who work in positions requiring a high level of public trust.

 

Integrity and security are at the core of everything the CRA does.

Deliverables

Access to information and privacy

The CRA is enhancing the protection of personal information held by the Agency through the timely implementation of its privacy action plan developed in fiscal 2013-2014. This plan outlines actions the Agency will take to strengthen privacy oversight and practices at the CRA. Some of the key activities in the action plan include the implementation of an Agency-wide privacy impact assessment action plan, which will ensure privacy risks are adequately addressed in the development of new programs and services, and the use of the Audit Trail Record Analysis Tool (ATRAT), which enhances the CRA's ability to monitor access to taxpayer information by its employees.

The CRA is taking immediate action to enhance the protection of personal information and privacy within its ATIP operations. Near-term actions will focus on three broad areas: operational processes, communications/training, and accountabilities. Actions will include:

  • Implementing encryption for electronic transmission of documents.
  • Enhancing existing requirements for securing all Agency documents containing personal information through the use of identifying marks clearly communicating to employees which documents contain protected information and must be managed accordingly.
  • Establishing quality assurance officers in all ATIP offices who are dedicated to verifying the accuracy and transmission information for all document packages. This will add additional, independent oversight of contents and use of security procedures.
  • Raising the accountabilities and authorities granted under the Access to Information Act to ensure senior managers are directly engaged in decisions on the treatment and disclosure of personal information.

The CRA is committed to continually enhancing its ability to protect taxpayer information, taking immediate action where there is inappropriate disclosure or access, and meeting its legislative requirements under the Privacy Act. The Agency will do so while managing a steadily increasing volume of requests which, in recent years, consistently rank it in the top three of all government departments and agencies. In 2013-14, the CRA received 2,751 requests and processed 1,636,782 pages. This is almost 400,000 more pages than the organisation ranked second.

Finance and administration

The CRA's activities take place in an environment of sound comptrollership, where senior management's decisions are based on timely financial and administrative information. The CRA uses a robust system of financial controls and financial service delivery to maintain cost-effective internal services and to support the efficient administration of the tax system.

Effective resource management is key to the CRA's success in managing one of the Government of Canada's largest budgets. This is accomplished through the CRA's ongoing commitment to a sound base of accountabilities and financial controls over planning and budgeting, which ensure financial resources, including investments, are applied optimally and are aligned to the strategic direction and priorities of the organization. The Agency maintains transparent and responsible oversight of travel and hospitality expenses. In addition, the CRA regularly reviews its finance and administration organizational and service delivery models to maximize efficiencies, simplify processes and procedures, and identify improvement and savings opportunities.

 

Effective resource management is key to the CRA's success in managing one of the Government of Canada's largest budgets.

Deliverables

Sustainable development

The CRA's sustainable development strategies focus on improving operational efficiencies and conserving resources, helping it reduce its environmental impact. The Agency's Sustainable Development Strategyvii 2014-2017 sets a three-year agenda for continued greening of CRA programs and operations in support of Canada's federal sustainable development strategy.

Planning highlights

The CRA will:

  • Reduce greenhouse gas emissions from operations through sustainable fleet management and by promoting sustainable travel options to employees
  • Embed environmental considerations in Crown procurement through training on green procurement and by including green procurement in performance evaluations
  • Improve sustainability in workplace operations by managing waste through reuse and recycling and by increasing population density in CRA buildings

Provide greener services by improving and increasing e-services for taxpayers and benefit recipients

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