Service Improvement Requests

Date sent: March 5, 2024

The hours of service offered by the CRA through its main contact centres are open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time. However, a caller’s telephone number might prevent them from accessing these hours of service. To improve this service for all individuals across Canada, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson requests the CRA make changes to prevent blocking callers from reaching the CRA during its contact centres’ regular hours of service.

Date sent: March 29, 2023

The Taxpayers' Ombudsperson requests improvements to the materials the CRA provides to Indigenous peoples. This includes a request for the CRA to update outdated information.

Date sent: March 23, 2023

After reviewing the new and improved My Account interface, we found that locating certain important information is not always straightforward. To help guide users better on My Account, the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson requests that the CRA: provide more descriptive information on its web pages on where user need to go to complete a task; add a search function to help with finding tasks; and address the feedback it received from users regarding the Get a proof of income statement page.

Date sent: March 13, 2023

While taxpayers are legally responsible for their tax obligations, if they request the CRA to contact their authorized representative, then the CRA should respect this choice. To improve the service it provides to Canadians and to reinforce the treatment they are entitled to when they deal with the CRA, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson requests that the CRA update its publicly available information to remove instances where it suggests taxpayers contact the CRA first when they want to be represented by a person of their choice.

Date sent: November 25, 2022

More work is needed to help Canadians who experience gender-based violence in its many forms. The Taxpayers' Ombudsperson's request includes consulting with internal and external stakeholders: to ensure that Getting benefits and credits when in an abusive or violent situation meets the needs of those in an abusive or violent situation; and to create a gender-based violence factsheet.

Date sent: September 16, 2021

Taxpayers are not sufficiently informed that the CRA will be flexible in recovering the CERB, nor do the CRA’s webpages direct Canadians intuitively. To improve the online information available to Canadians on their options when owing money, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson requests that the CRA review its Payments to the CRA wepages, as well as centralize the information provided on Payments to the CRA and Collections at the CRA.

Date sent: September 3, 2021

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson requests that the CRA create an active webpage on what a taxpayer should do when the CRA requires, or requests, information, or documents, that may put the taxpayer in danger.

Date sent: April 26, 2021

Many complainants indicated the CRA is taking, in excess of four weeks, to validate their eligibility for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB). The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson requests that the CRA update the CRB validation page, post an informational bulletin at the top of CRA Validation page that identifies the length of time the CRA will take to review supporting documents and Communicate to taxpayers the length of time it will take to review their supporting documents.