Canada Revenue Agency Annual Report to Parliament 2013-2014
Other items of interest
Organizational structure
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:
|
Benefit programs and benefit-related services delivered by the Canada Revenue Agency
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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:
- Charities – written enquiries – routine
- Charities – written enquiries – complex
- Processing a request to authorize or cancel a representative – paper
- Processing a request to authorize or cancel a representative – electronic
Revised Service Standards in 2013-2014
We made changes to two of our service standards.
- The standard for processing excise tax, excise duty, softwood lumber returns, and air travellers' security charge returns was within 90 calendar days 95% of the time. As a result of our increased efficiency in processing these returns, we improved the service standard by reducing the time for assessment from 90 to 60 calendar days.
- Processing T2 corporate income tax returns included both paper and electronic returns. We created two separate service standards in 2013-2014, one for electronic and one for paper. We will assess electronically filed T2 corporate income tax returns in 45 calendar days or less and paper-filed T2 returns in 90 calendar days or less.
Our Service Standard Results
| 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% |
| 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% |
| 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% |
| 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% |
| 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% |
| 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:
- individual income tax and trust enquiries
- business enquiries
- Canada child tax benefit enquiries
- goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit enquirie
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.
Page details
- Date modified: