Core Activities

The filing experience

Description

The CRA plays a crucial role in facilitating tax compliance through an accessible and efficient filing experience. Canada’s tax system is based on self-assessment, meaning taxpayers are responsible for filing their returns accurately. The CRA provides multiple tools and services to support this process, ensuring Canadians meet their tax obligations while accessing benefits and credits.

Key Facts and Figures (2023-2024 fiscal year)

• $662.6 billion – Total administered revenues and pension contributions.
• 33.5 million – Individual income tax returns filed, with 92% filed digitally.^{Footnote 1} 
• 3 million – Corporation income tax returns filed, with 94% filed digitally.
• 343,000 – Trust returns assessed, with 49% filed digitally.
• 287.1 million – Slips processed, with 99.6% filed digitally.
• 22.3 million – Uses of the Auto-fill My Return service.

All figures are approximate.

Context

Canada’s self-assessment tax system requires individuals and businesses to calculate and report their taxable income annually. The CRA validates this information and issues assessments, refunds, or tax owing notices accordingly. Tax filing also plays a crucial role in administering benefits and credits, ensuring Canadians receive the support they are entitled to.

The CRA administers federal and most provincial and territorial taxes, except in Quebec, which has its own provincial tax administration – Revenu Québec; and in Alberta, which administers its own corporate tax. In addition to personal and corporate income taxes, the CRA also manages the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) and various other levies. The tax filing season runs from late February to April 30 for most individuals, with benefit renewals and payments continuing throughout the year. To enhance the filing process, the CRA collaborates with software developers to improve digital tax solutions, increase accuracy, and support timely access to benefits and credits.

The following table includes statistics for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

To enhance taxpayer convenience, the CRA offers multiple digital and support solutions, including:

• My account, my business account, and represent a client – Online portals for individuals, businesses, and authorized representatives to manage tax information through their CRA account.
• Auto-fill my return – A service that allows individuals and authorized representatives using certified software, to automatically fill in parts of an income tax and benefit return with information that the CRA has available at the time of the request.
• EFILE – An electronic tax-filing service that allows tax professionals (such as accountants and tax preparers) to file income tax returns on behalf of their clients.
• NETFILE – An electronic tax-filing service that allows most individuals to file their personal income tax returns online directly to the CRA.
• Volunteer Program – Through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), community organizations host free tax clinics for individuals with modest incomes and simple tax situations. The CRA supports these organizations with registration, volunteer accreditation, digital filing capabilities, and tax software training. In Quebec, the CVITP is jointly run with Revenu Québec to ensure that volunteers can file both the federal and provincial return at the same time. The program is known as the Individual Tax Assistance – Volunteer Program (ITAVP).
• SimpleFile services – As part of its automatic tax filing efforts, the CRA continues to support simplified filing options (through phone, digital and paper channels).

Considerations

• Expansion of automated filing services – Increased eligibility and outreach for the SimpleFile by Phone, Digital, and Paper programs making tax filing more accessible and streamlined.
• Enhancements to CRA online services – Improved My Account and My Business Account functionality, including expanded access to digital tax information.
• CRA content on Canada.ca – Webpages were updated with features that address user feedback, including targeted educational and outreach products for specific client segments, and improved search features.
• Real-time information updates – Collaboration with financial institutions (FI) to enable near real-time direct deposit updates for tax refunds and benefits. The near real-time information updates are dependent on when the FI sends the direct deposit information file to the CRA (usually daily). As soon as the FI successfully uploads the file to the CRA, the direct deposit is updated immediately. The CRA system is available 24/7 except for scheduled maintenance.
• Digital contact options – Strengthened chatbot and live chat services, with over 14.2 million questions answered via the CRA Chatbot and over 530,000 chat interactions have been handled by CRA agents. Starting March 24, 2025, a GenAI chatbot beta is available to answer questions relating to personal income tax, as well as information relating to accessing a CRA online account.

Current Issues and Plans

• [Redacted]
• Access for taxpayers – While digital filing remains the preferred method, the CRA continues to support paper-based filing for those without access to technology. Efforts are also being strengthened to improve access to the tax and benefit system for Indigenous communities, seniors, and other groups.
• Removing barriers for persons with disabilities – The CRA is committed to identifying, removing, and eliminating barriers to accessibility for persons with disabilities across its programs and services. It published its first three-year Accessibility Plan in December 2022, which lists concrete actions to be taken to address identified accessibility barriers. A new Accessibility Plan will be released in December 2025, covering the next three years.
• Service consultations – In fall 2024, the CRA held consultations with individuals, non-professional representatives, and tax professionals across Canada to hear about their recent service experiences. Specific groups consulted included youth, seniors, newcomers and individuals experiencing housing insecurity. The findings will inform future service improvements to make it easier for clients to meet their tax obligations and receive the benefits and credits designed to assist them.

Next Steps

The CRA will continue evaluating and optimizing its tax filing services, expanding automated filing solutions, and strengthening digital support tools to simplify compliance and enhance the taxpayer experience, where possible, within its existing budget envelope.

Benefit and credit administration

Description

The CRA administers a wide range of benefits and credits on behalf of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments to support the economic and social well-being of Canadians. Many of these programs are income-tested and designed to provide financial assistance to individuals and families with modest incomes.

Key facts and figures (2023-2024 fiscal year)

• $52.7 billion – Total benefits issued by the CRA.
• 205 – Federal, provincial, and territorial benefit and credit programs and services administered including data exchanges and transfers.
• 869,670 – Income tax and benefit returns filed for vulnerable individuals through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) tax clinics during the 2024 calendar year.

All figures are approximate

Context

The CRA plays a crucial role in ensuring eligible Canadians receive the benefits and credits to which they are entitled. Benefits are tax-free payments made to those who are eligible for them and are targeted to modest income individuals through income-testing. The CRA administers many refundable and non-refundable tax credits. Refundable tax credits reduce the amount of federal tax an individual must pay, where the total of these credits is more than the federal tax owed, and may result in a refund, even when no taxes are owed. Non-refundable tax credits, reduce or eliminate the amount of federal tax an individual must pay. However, if the total of the credits is more than the federal tax owed, there will not be a refund for the difference.

The Agency administers federal benefits and credits such as:

• Canada child benefit (CCB) – A tax-free monthly payment to eligible families with children under 18.
• Goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit – A payment to help lower-income individuals and families offset GST/HST costs.
• Advanced Canada workers benefit (ACWB) – Automatic advance payments for low-income workers that receive the CWB on their prior year income tax and benefit return.
• Disability tax credit (DTC) – A non-refundable tax credit for people with disabilities, or their supporting family member, that reduces the amount of income tax they may have to pay. DTC eligibility can also help people gain access to additional tax deductions, credits, and benefits. DTC eligibility provides access to the Child disability benefit, Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP), Canada workers benefit disability supplement, and the upcoming Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) to be implemented in July 2025, a non-refundable tax credit to support persons with disabilities.

In addition to our core benefit programs, the CRA is regularly called upon to deliver temporary support measures to citizens. These can be as standalone benefit payments or as enhancements to existing programs, for example supplemental payments delivered through the GST/HST credit. These instances occur with both federal benefit programs and provincial and territorial programs that the CRA administers on behalf of these jurisdictions.

The CRA also collaborates with provincial, territorial, and federal partners to administer and support benefit programs, including data exchanges and income verification for programs such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement, Old Age Security, and Canada Education Savings Plan initiatives. These partnerships can involve extensive support from the CRA, ranging from providing information and advice, to helping inform program and policy decisions, to developing information sharing protocols that are integral to program delivery. These initiatives are often prominent Government priorities.

Considerations and recent improvements

• Automatic benefits application (ABA) –A streamlined process that allows parents registering the birth of their child to automatically apply for federal and provincial/territorial child and family benefits. This process ensures information accuracy, eliminates duplication of information, and reduces processing time so that applicants receive their benefits as quickly as possible.
• Government's COVID-19 economic response plan – the CRA was called on to support Canadians through the delivery of a number of critical emergency benefit programs, which are taxable benefit payments. These benefits helped Canadian individuals and businesses cope with the economic impacts of the pandemic.
• Efforts to support hard-to-reach populations – The CRA introduced a streamlined tax return and CCB form for Indigenous peoples with modest and/or tax-exempt incomes. In addition, DTC Navigators were implemented in tax centres to provide dedicated support for persons with disabilities and their representatives. These initiatives are part of broader work to improve accessibility, reduce barriers, and ensure that vulnerable groups can easily access the financial assistance designed to support them.
• Outreach initiatives – Enhanced benefits outreach to Indigenous communities, newcomers, adults 65 and over, the housing insecure, persons with disabilities, and modest-income individuals, providing a selection of multilingual resources, virtual and in-person information sessions. For example, the CRA works to support Indigenous peoples through Northern Service Centres where outreach officers provide year-round support to individuals located in all three territories.
• Enhanced digital services – The CRA launched a fully digital DTC application process to improve accessibility and will be introducing a digital GST/HST credit application for individuals who become residents of Canada in May 2025.
• CRA progress tracker – Expanded functionality within My Account to track benefit applications, including CCB and T1 returns.

Current issues and plans

• The role of the CRA – The CRA is most effective in delivering new benefits and credits when they are closely linked to tax-related data and its core mandate (e.g., income-tested benefits delivered through the tax filing process).
• Ensuring benefit accessibility – Despite digital advancements, some vulnerable populations continue to face barriers in accessing benefits.
• Fraud prevention and integrity measures – The CRA is refining its risk-based verification approach to safeguard benefits while ensuring eligible Canadians receive them.
• Automation and simplification – Efforts are underway to develop and expand free, automatic tax-filing services for simple returns.
• Public trust and awareness – The CRA remains focused on enhancing transparency and communication to improve benefit uptake among eligible recipients.

Next Steps

The CRA will continue to:

• Proactively identify and reach out to eligible individuals who are not receiving benefits.
• Review and validate benefit applications using data-driven approaches to ensure fair and timely distribution of benefits.
• Collaborate with provincial, territorial, and federal partners to improve benefit administration and explore new program delivery models.

The compliance continuum: Helping Canadians meet their tax obligations

Description

The CRA is committed to ensuring that Canadians meet their tax obligations by promoting compliance through education, outreach, and enforcement. The CRA operates under the principle that most individuals and businesses want to comply with their tax responsibilities when provided with the necessary tools and information. However, the CRA also employs risk-based interventions, audits, and enforcement measures to address non-compliance, ensuring the integrity of the tax system.

Key Facts and Figures (2023-2024 fiscal year)

• 94% – Canadians who participated in the tax system.
• 68,900 – Audits completed, resulting in a $15.3 billion fiscal impact.
• 13 – Convictions for willfully evading payment amounts totaling $13.5 million in federal tax, leading to $2.9 million in court-imposed fines. Of these convictions, 7 individuals^{Footnote 3}  were sentenced to jail for a total of 16 years^*.
• $80.6B – in outstanding tax debt

All figures are approximate

Context

The CRA adapts its compliance activities to the specific circumstances of audits and ensures revenue is collected efficiently and public trust is maintained. Key elements of the continuum include:

• Facilitating compliance – Providing information (in a variety of formats), education, outreach, and digital tools to help Canadians meet their tax obligations.
• Encouraging compliance – Using proactive communications and behavioural insights to nudge taxpayers toward compliance.
• Verifying compliance – Through the use of data analytics and risk assessment, conducting verification reviews and audits.
• Collection activities – Implementing a range of strategies and, when necessary, legal actions to ensure amounts owed are paid.
• Recourse and relief – Taxpayers may dispute CRA decisions through objections and appeals to court. Taxpayers may also request relief from penalties and interest when they are unable to meet their tax obligations due to circumstances beyond their control (e.g., natural disasters, financial hardship, actions of the CRA, etc.).
• Criminal investigations – In cases of suspected tax evasion or other tax offences, the CRA may conduct criminal investigations, and where appropriate, refer cases to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for possible criminal prosecution.

The CRA also collaborates with the Department of Finance to propose legislative measures that address evolving compliance risks while ensuring fairness in tax administration.

Considerations and recent improvements

• Improving taxpayer support – Taking an empathetic approach, the CRA assists taxpayers in meeting their tax obligations by establishing their ability to pay and negotiating mutually acceptable payment arrangements. The CRA is currently developing a collections service within the My Account and My Business Account portals that will provide taxpayers who have debts owing to the Crown, opportunities to self-resolve their debts.
  
  In addition, improvements have been made to the CRA online portal for a richer self-service experience, examples of which are:
  • Providing an increased ability for taxpayers to transfer payments between CRA accounts.
  • Providing taxpayers with new chat functionality for secure, authenticated interactions on account specific enquiries with a live CRA employee via the My Account portal.
  • New CRA GenAI chatbot, which provides taxpayers with accurate and contextually relevant information they require without the need to speak with an agent. 
• Sharpening focus on emerging tax risks – Enhanced data analytics and business intelligence tools to detect and address non-compliance.
• Tax gap management – Using progressive interventions, education, and risk assessments to address non-compliance and continue to put downward pressure on the tax gap, ensuring the integrity of the tax system.
• Enhancing disaster relief measures – A CRA Disaster Relief Playbook ensures faster response times for taxpayers affected by natural disasters.
• Strengthening international collaboration – Increasing information-sharing efforts with global tax authorities to combat tax avoidance and evasion.

Current Issues and Plans

• Taxpayer confidence and public perception – Media and parliamentary scrutiny have raised concerns that the CRA is perceived to be more lenient on wealthy individuals and large corporations than average Canadians.
• Growing tax debt – While most Canadians pay their taxes on time, outstanding tax debt continues to grow. CRA strives to increase the rate of resolution of the tax debt in response to the growth by enhancing collection strategies.
• Automated compliance tools – The CRA is expanding the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to identify high-risk cases and streamline compliance efforts.
• International tax enforcement – Strengthening participation in the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5), Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development initiatives to address cross-border tax evasion.

Next Steps

The CRA will continue to:

• Expand outreach and education initiatives to improve voluntary compliance.
• Refine risk-based compliance strategies to ensure efficient use of verification, audit and enforcement resources.
• Collaborate with domestic and international partners to address tax avoidance and evasion.
• Enhance service delivery and taxpayer support through digital modernization efforts.
• Publish an updated Tax Gap Report in 2025 to provide transparency on Canada’s overall compliance landscape.