Canada Revenue Agency Annual Report to Parliament 2013-2014

Other items of interest

Organizational structure

Canada revenue agency organizational chart

Detailed tax debt management action plans

These plans track actions to address the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP) and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) for how the CRA collects tax debt.

Risk management

The CRA's strategy to improve the risk management of its collections program will address OAGs recommendation 8.52: "The Canada Revenue Agency should establish a more comprehensive automated risk-scoring system for tax debt, update the risk scores on an ongoing basis, and use the risk scores to prioritize workload throughout the collections process." PACP reference #2

Specific commitment and deliverables Target date Progress
Fully operational risk scores are scheduled for GST/HST programs. 2014

The data mining models for GST/HST programs have been automated and deployed.

Performance reporting

The CRA's strategy to improve how it reports on the performance of its collections program will address OAGs recommendation 8.41: "The Canada Revenue Agency should significantly improve its management information to make it complete and comprehensive. It should develop reliable techniques and information sources to determine on a regular basis the results of its collection efforts and use that information to guide its decision-making for each of its major collection modes and actions." PACP reference #5

Specific commitment and deliverable Target date Progress
 
Performance reporting tools are scheduled to be progressively implemented throughout all major business revenue lines.  2014 The performance reporting solution for T1 collections was deployed in June 2012. Development work on a similar solution is under way for other major business lines.

Debt management research

The CRA's strategy to improve its debt management research will address OAGs recommendation 8.28: "The Canada Revenue Agency should identify and collect the data it needs to analyze the makeup of its tax debt and to develop better collection strategies." (considering a variety of factors including fluctuations in the economic cycle) PACP reference #4.

Specific commitment and deliverable Target date Progress
Research into economic indicators: develop research approach and conduct study. Ongoing

In 2013-2014, debt management research:

  • completed a first study and continued to work on the employer population
  • continued work on source and disposition of GST/HST
  • developed a first model to forecast the level of tax debt
  • continued work on trend analysis; designed samplings and prepared reports on findings for different program initiatives

Benefit programs and benefit-related services delivered by the Canada Revenue Agency

Six federal benefit programs
Canada child tax benefit Children's special allowances
Disability tax credit Universal child care benefit – on behalf of Employment and Social Development Canada
Goods and services tax / harmonized sales tax credit Working income tax benefit advance payments
Twenty-eight ongoing benefit programs for provinces and territories
  1st year   1st year
British Columbia – BC family bonus 1996 Newfoundland and Labrador seniors' benefit 1999
Alberta family employment tax credit 1997 Saskatchewan low-income tax credit 2000
New Brunswick child tax benefit 1997 Newfoundland and Labrador – mother baby nutrition supplement 2001
New Brunswick working income supplement 1997 Ontario child benefit 2007
Newfoundland and Labrador harmonized sales tax credit 1997 British Columbia low-income climate action tax credit 2008
British Columbia – BC earned income benefit 1998 Ontario senior homeowners' property tax grant 2009
Saskatchewan child benefit 1998 Ontario sales tax credit 2010
Northwest Territories child benefit 1998 British Columbia harmonized sales tax credit 2010
Northwest Territories – territorial worker's supplement 1998 Nova Scotia affordable living tax credit 2010
Nova Scotia child benefit 1998 Ontario energy and property tax credit 2011
Yukon child benefit 1999 Northern Ontario energy credit 2011
Nunavut child benefit 1999 Ontario trillium benefit 2012
Nunavut – territorial worker's supplement 1999 New Brunswick school supplement 2012

Newfoundland and Labrador child benefit

1999 Prince Edward Island sales tax and credit 2013
Ten one-time payment programs
  1st year   1st year
Relief for heating expenses (federal) 2000 Energy cost benefit (federal) 2005
British Columbia – BC energy rebate 2001 Alberta 2005 resource rebate 2005
Alberta energy tax refund 2001 Ontario home electricity relief 2006
Ontario taxpayer dividend 2001 British Columbia climate action dividend 2008

Nova Scotia taxpayer refund

2003 Ontario sales tax transition benefit 2010
Eighty-eight data exchange and data transfer services
Fifty-four income verification data exchanges with provinces to support programs Ten national child benefit supplement data exchanges with provinces and territories to facilitate the calculation of social assistance
Five data transfers with provinces to support top-ups for CRA-administered child benefit programs Two data transfers of income and child information to support administration of the Ontario child care supplement and Quebec family allowance programs
Eight data exchanges and transfers to support the Nova Scotia pharmacare program, the British Columbia low-income climate action tax credit, Ontario senior homeowners property tax grant, Ontario sales tax credit, Ontario energy and property tax credit/Northern Ontario tax credit, Ontario trillium benefit, BC harmonized sales tax credit and to assist the ministère du Revenu du Québec in administering the Quebec Taxation Act  Nine data exchanges and data transfers to support federal administration of the employment insurance family supplement, guaranteed income supplement, Canada learning bond, additional canada education savings grant, registered disability savings plan and Canadian disability savings grant, Old Age Security, and universal child care benefit

Service standards

Canadians' confidence in the integrity of the tax system is essential to the CRA's success. Meeting our service standards shows that we are answering the needs of taxpayers and benefit recipients. Our service standards tell citizens what level of performance they can reasonably expect from the CRA under normal circumstances. We review our standards and targets every year and update them as needed.

New Service Standards in 2013-2014

We introduced four new service standards:

Revised Service Standards in 2013-2014

We made changes to two of our service standards.

Our Service Standard Results

Taxpayer and business assistance
Service Standards Targets 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
General enquiries – telephone service level Respond to calls in the agent queue within two minutes 80% 80.1% 82% 80%
Business enquiries – telephone service level Respond to calls in the agent queue within two minutes 80% 81.2% 82% 81%
GST/HST rulings and interpretations – telephone enquiries Respond to calls in the agent queue within two minutes 80% 88% 97% 95%
GST/HST rulings and interpretations – written enquiries Respond to written requests for GST/HST rulings and interpretations within 45 business days of receipt in the CRA. This excludes highly technical and precedent and/or policy-setting rulings and interpretations 80% 41.9% 81% 74%1
 
Charities – responding to telephone enquiries Respond to calls in agent queue within two minutes 80% 84.1% 86.3% 85.1%
Charities – responding to simple applications Respond to simple applications for charitable
registration within two months, upon receipt of a complete application
80% 86% 94.5% 90.9%
 
Charities – responding to regular applications Respond to regular applications for charitable registration within six months, upon receipt of a complete application 80% 91.3%  97.5% 99%
 
Charities – written enquiries – routine Review and respond to routine written enquiries in 30 calendar days or less of receipt 80% N/A2 N/A2 79.8%
 
Charities – written enquiries – complex Review and respond to complex written enquiries in 75 calendar days or less of receipt 80% N/A2 N/A2 55%
Advance income tax rulings Issue advance income tax rulings within 90 business days of receipt of all essential information from the client 85% N/A3 74% 75%4
Technical interpretations Issue technical interpretations within 90 business days of receipt of all essential information from the client 85% N/A3 83% 87%
 
Actuarial valuation reports Review actuarial valuation reports within nine months and provide written approval of the recommended employer contributions 80% 50.7% 52% 71%
Amendments to registered pension plans Review pension plan amendments for compliance with the Income Tax Act within nine months 80% 78.7% 81% 82%
Applications to register pension plans Complete a full review and provide a response on applications to register pension plans within 180 calendar days 85% 83.9% 90% 89%
Deferred income plans – response to written enquiries Respond to written enquiries within 60 calendar days 80% 88.3% 98% 89%
Deferred profit sharing plans – amendments and terminations Review requests to amend and to terminate plans within 270 days 80% 93.7% 97% 92%
Deferred profit sharing plans – reviewing applications Review applications to register new deferred profit sharing plans within 180 days 80% 98.1% 100% 98%
Education savings plans (applications to register, amend, or terminate) Respond to applications to approve, amend, and terminate education savings plans specimen plans within 60 calendar days 85% 97.5% 91% 92%
Retirement income funds (applications to register, amend, or terminate) Respond to applications to register, amend, or terminate retirement income funds within 60 calendar days 80% 96.2% 99% 99%
Retirement savings plans (applications to register, amend, or terminate) Respond to applications to register, amend, or terminate retirement savings plans within 60 calendar days 80% 94.4% 96% 99%
Assessment of returns and payment processing
Service Standards Targets 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
Processing T1 individual income tax returns (EFILE and NETFILE) Process electronic T1 returns (EFILE and NETFILE) within an average of two weeks of receipt 100% 1.6 weeks 1.6 weeks 1.6 weeks
Processing T1 individual income tax returns (paper) Process a paper T1 return and mail a notice of assessment and refund, if applicable, in an average of four to six weeks 100% 3.9 weeks 4.3 weeks 5 weeks
 
Responding to taxpayer-requested adjustments (T1) received by internet Complete the adjustment and mail a notice of reassessment within an average of two weeks, provided all requisite information has been received from the taxpayer 100% 1.8 weeks 2 weeks 1.6 weeks
 
Responding to taxpayer-requested adjustments (T1) Complete the adjustment and mail a notice of reassessment within an average of eight weeks, provided all requisite information has been received from the taxpayer 100% 7 weeks 7 weeks 7 weeks
 
Processing T3 trust returns Process T3 trust returns within four months 95% 98.7% 98.7% 99.3%
Processing T2 corporation income tax returns – electronic Assess electronic T2 returns (corporation income tax) within 45 calendar days 90% N/A2 N/A2 97.1%
 
Processing T2 corporation income tax returns – paper Assess paper T2 returns (corporation income tax) within 90 calendar days 90% N/A2  N/A2 91.4%
 
Processing GST/HST returns Process GST/HST returns within 30 calendar days of receipt 95% 91% 93.8% 96.5%
Processing excise tax, excise duty, softwood lumber returns, and air travellers security charge returns Assess excise tax, excise duty, softwood lumber returns, and air travellers security charge returns within 60 calendar days of receipt 95% N/A3 N/A3 97.2%
Compliance
Service Standards Targets 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – refundable claims Process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct SR&ED in Canada within 120 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim for refundable claims 90% 96.5%  96% 96%
 
Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – non-refundable claims Process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct SR&ED in Canada within 365 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim for non-refundable claims 90% 96.7% 96% 96%
 
Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – claimant-requested adjustments to refundable claims Process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct SR&ED in Canada within 240 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim, for refundable claims related to adjustments requested to previously filed income tax returns 90% 95.1% 95% 96%
Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – claimant-requested adjustments to non-refundable claims Process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct SR&ED in Canada within 365 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim, for non-refundable claims related to adjustments requested to previously filed income tax returns 90% 94.5% 94% 93%
Claims – video and film tax credits – refundable claims – audited Review T2 corporation income tax returns that include claims for the Canadian film or video production tax credit, the film or video production services tax credit, the BC film and television tax credit, the BC production services tax credit, the Manitoba film and video production tax credit, the Ontario film and television tax credit, and the Ontario production services tax credit within 120 calendar days from the date of receipt where audit action is undertaken 90% 79% 90.5% 96%
Claims – video and film tax credits – refundable claims – unaudited Review T2 corporation income tax returns that include claims for the Canadian film or video production tax credit, the film or video production services tax credit, the BC film and television tax credit, the BC production services tax credit, the Manitoba film and video production tax credit, the Ontario film and television tax credit, and the Ontario production services tax credit within 60 calendar days from the date of receipt when no audit action is undertaken 90% 95.9% 96.2% 96%
Appeals
Service Standards Targets 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
First contact letter for disputes Acknowledge taxpayer disputes within 30 calendar days after we receive them 85% N/A5 84%5 85.2%
Service complaints – two-day acknowledgement Acknowledge receipt of the complaint within two business days. 80% 97.2% 92% 85.8%
 
Service complaints – 30 day resolution Resolve the complaint within 30 business days 80% 94.5% 94.3% 95.3%
Problem resolution program – acknowledge receipt Acknowledge receipt of a problem within two business days  95% 97.6% 98.2% 98.3%
Problem resolution program – resolution Resolve the problem within 15 business days. If we cannot (for example, if a case is complex), we will make contact within that time to give an anticipated date of resolution 95% 97.5%  98.2% 98.2%
Benefit programs
Service Standards Targets 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
Canada child tax benefit enquiries – telephone service level Respond to calls in the agent queue within two minutes 75% 76% 78% 75%
GST/HST credit enquiries telephone service level Respond to calls in the queue within two minutes 75% 76.6% 77% 75%
 
Processing benefit applications and marital status change forms – timeliness Issue a payment, notice, or explanation within 80 calendar days 98% 99%  99.8% 99.5%
 
Processing benefit applications and marital status change forms – accuracy Accurately process the appropriate payment and notice and, if necessary, issue a letter requesting additional information 98% 97.5% 98.7% 99%
Responding to benefit and credit enquiries – timeliness Respond to written enquiries and telephone referrals from call centers within 80 calendar days 98%  98.1% 98% 99.1%
 
Responding to benefit and credit enquiries – accuracy Respond to written enquiries and telephone referrals from call centers, with correct information, and accurately process new recipient information, including issuing a payment, notice, or letter 98% 98.8% 98.1% 98%
Validation and compliance – results of review Inform you of the result of our review within 45 days after we receive the information requested 90% 98.5% 99% 98.9%
Processing a request to authorize or cancel a representative – electronic Process your complete electronic request to authorize or cancel a representative in five business days or less of receipt by the CRA, provided the request is complete 90% N/A2  N/A2 99.4%
Processing a request to authorize or cancel a representative – paper Process your complete paper request to authorize or cancel a representative in 20 business days or less of receipt by the CRA, provided the request is complete 90% N/A2 N/A2 96.1%
Internal services
Service Standards Targets 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014
Taxpayer requests for statistical tax data Respond to taxpayer requests for statistical data within an average of 30 calendar days 100% 17 days 14 days 11 days
 

When service standards are expressed in numbers of days, they refer to calendar days, unless otherwise specified.

New Service Standards in 2014-2015

We will introduce a new service standard for the e–Services helpdesk. We will respond to calls in the queue within two minutes, 80% of the time. This service standard is based on the CRA's existing telephone standards for:


Footnote 1: Some resources diverted from providing rulings to train new technical staff and develop new initiatives (e.g., folios).

Footnote 2: Service standard introduced in 2013-2014; no prior-year results available.

Footnote 3: The service standard was revised in 2013-2014; no prior-year results available.

Footnote 4: Results improved (from 71% at the start of December to 74% at the end of March) when resources were reallocated and inventory management strategies were implemented.

Footnote 5: The measurement has been revised, affecting comparability with previous-year results, to more accurately report results by calculating the period of time when the first contact letter is sent and received, as opposed to measuring performance once the file has been closed.

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