Annual Report to Parliament 2014-2015
Program: Benefit Programs
$22BÂ
We paid close to $22 billion in benefit payments
Subprogram descriptions
Benefit Enquiries
Millions of Canadians depend on the benefit and credit programs the CRA administers for an important part of their income. We respond promptly to more than 6 million telephone enquiries from recipients. Our capacity to respond to the high volumes of telephone enquiries will improve with our Contact Centre Transformation initiative, discussed in the chapter, Taxpayer and Business Assistance.
We publish news and other information concerning the benefit and credit programs we administer at www.cra.gc.ca/benefitsix. Benefit recipients can also subscribe to our email list to be notified when the CRA issues the Canada child tax benefit, GST/HST credit, universal child care benefit, and advance payments of the working income tax benefit.
Key results
- 6.4 million calls answered on our benefit enquiries line in 2014-2015.
- We met our service standard target for timeliness by answering calls within two minutes 76% of the time for Canada child tax benefit and GST/HST credit enquiries.
Benefit Programs Administration
The CRA administers 135 benefit and credit programs and services on behalf of the provinces and territories and the federal government. The CRA's expertise and systems lower the costs of administering programs and reduce the need for separate calculation and delivery systems at the federal and provincial or territorial levels. We provide flexible and efficient administration based on our ability to implement changes to meet our partners' needs, which in turn improves the service delivered to benefit recipients. For example, the Ontario government changed the Ontario Trillium benefit to let recipients choose a deferred, lump-sum payment and we changed our procedures and systems to enable this option.
Because clarity is important, the CRA is implementing a plain-language action plan to make our correspondence easier to understand. In 2014-2015, we began a complete review and redesign of the benefit notices we send to recipients and began user-testing the new notices designed to be delivered electronically or by traditional mail.
Validation
The CRA's role is to make sure correct payments are made to the right people as efficiently as possible. We review recipient information to make sure people receive the child and family benefits and credits they are entitled to. In some cases, we contact benefit recipients to confirm details like marital status, residency, and primary care of children, and can also ask individuals to provide documents to support their claim to benefits. If account information is incorrect, we update it and adjust recipient records and benefit payments accordingly.
In 2014-2015, we added automated confidence validity processes for provincial and territorial benefit and credit programs, and released a number of new validation and compliance reviews focused on marital status, residency, and primary care of children.
Renewing benefit infrastructure
We are updating the information technology support systems for the benefit programs we administer. The multi-year renewal project is improving system flexibility and enabling service improvements and efficiencies which will make sure we can continue to provide recipients with timely payments and information while allowing for future program growth.
Digital services
The CRA's secure digital services make it easier for benefit recipients to manage their account details, such as updating marital status and the number of children in their care, and to access information regarding their benefits. We introduced the following new features to improve the self-service digital options for benefit recipients during 2014-2015:
- Benefit recipients can now send supporting documents to the CRA electronically. Through the Submit document services, benefit recipients quickly and easily respond to requests from the CRA for more information to support a benefit application.
- The new MyCRA mobile app provides links to benefit and credit payment dates.
Automated Benefits Application service
The CRA's Automated Benefits Application (ABA) service allows participating provinces and territories to offer a quick, easy, and secure way to apply for all child benefit programs for newborns. Most programs use similar income-based eligibility criteria, contributing to a high degree of accuracy in benefit payments. The ABA service enables the CRA to automatically enrol applicants for federal and provincial benefits as soon as their child is born.
In 2014-2015, preparations continued towards the addition of Saskatchewan as the tenth province to use the ABA service. Their participation in ABA is targeted for January 2016. We also continue discussions with the three territories on their adoption of the service.
Direct deposit
We encourage benefit recipients to register for direct deposit because it is the fastest way for them to receive their benefit payments. It is also more efficient and cost-effective than traditional cheque payments.
| Benefit recipients using direct deposit | 2014-2015 | 2013-2014 |
|---|---|---|
| Universal child care benefit | 75.8% | 70.8% |
| Canada child tax benefit | 82.8% | 79.3% |
| Goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax credit | 60.8% | 55.7% |
Key results
- Benefit payments made by direct deposit increased to 72.2% in 2014-2015, up from 67.8% the previous year, moving us closer to direct deposit being the preferred payment option for all Canadians.
- The benefits page in My Account registered 3.3 million visits and the Quick Access service logged 566,760 visits.
- We administered 135 federal, provincial, and territorial benefit and credit programs and services.
- We reviewed 330,953 accounts based on our risk assessments and 61% of the files reviewed had to be adjusted.
- We adjusted 923,170 GST/HST credit accounts resulting from changes to recipient family situations such as a change in income, marriage, or a child turning 19.
- We issued 99.9% of Canada child tax benefit payments on time.
- We made more than 115 million payments to over 12 million benefit recipients.
- We paid close to $22 billion in benefit payments.
| Program/ Subprogram |
2014-15 Main Estimates |
2014-15 Total Authorities |
2014-15 Planned1 |
2014-15 Actual2 |
2014-15 Difference (Planned minus Actual) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benefit Programs | 390,354,003 | 362,942,761 | 390,442,143 | 351,409,527 | 39,032,616 |
| Benefit Enquiries | no dataa | no dataa | 36,072,252 | 30,836,591 | 5,235,661 |
| Benefit Programs Administration | no dataa | no dataa | 108,369,891 | 105,811,737 | 2,558,154 |
| Statutory Children's Special Allowance Payments | no dataa | no dataa | 246,000,000 | 214,761,199 | 31,238,8013 |
| Program/ Subprogram |
2014-15 Planned |
2014-15 Actual |
2014-15 Difference (Planned minus Actual) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benefit Programs | 1,568 | 1,253 | 315 |
| Benefit Enquiries | 519 | 293 | 2264 |
| Benefit Programs Administration | 1,049 | 960 | 895 |
| Statutory Children's Special Allowance Payments | no dataa | no dataa | no dataa |
Performance measurement
| Expected Result | Performance Indicator | Target | Actual Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benefit recipients are provided timely and accurate eligibility determinations and payments, and have access to timely and accurate information | Number of service standards targets met or mostly met relating to benefits administration and enquiries6 | 100% | 100% |
| no dataa | Payment accuracy after application processing and account maintenance transaction | 98% | 99.3% |
| Expected Result | Performance Indicator | Target | Actual Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benefit recipients have access to timely and accurate responses to their telephone enquiries | Caller Accessibility – Percentage of Canada child tax benefit callers who succeed in reaching the CRA telephone service | 80% | 83% |
| no dataa | Caller Accessibility – Percentage of GST/HST credit callers who succeed in reaching the CRA telephone service | 80% | 80% |
| no dataa | Percentage of accurately updated internal reference materials for benefit services agents | 100% | 100% |
| Expected Result | Performance Indicator | Target | Actual Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Benefit and credit eligibility determination and payment processing are timely and accurate | Number of service standards targets met or mostly met relating to benefit and credit application or maintenance6 | 100% | 100% |
| no dataa | Percentage of Canada child tax benefit and GST/HST credit accounts targeted under the adjusted validation programs (validation and compliance) | 50% | 61.3% |
| no dataa | Percentage of respondents satisfied with benefit application processing time | 75% | N/A7 |
Table Notes
1. Planned spending excludes severance payments, parental benefits, vacation credits, the one-time transition payment for implementing the pay-in-arrears model, and the carry-forward of unused funds from 2013-2014 under the CRA's two-year spending authority. This funding is received during the fiscal year and is included only in actual spending.
2. Modified cash basis, based on Parliamentary appropriations used. See Parliamentary appropriations for an explanation of how actual spending relates to results in the CRA Financial Statements – Agency Activities.
3. Decrease primarily due to payments made to a lower than planned number of recipients.
4. Decrease partially due to workload transfers to other programs during the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
5. Decrease partially due to underspending, with lapses used to offset shortfalls within the Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing program.
6. Details on our service standards are in Appendix B.
7. The number of respondents to the 2014 Canada child tax benefit first-time applicant survey was insufficient to produce valid results.
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