Annual Report 2021–2022

François Boileau 
Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson

Our communications team, far from being outdone, continued to be challenged on all levels, while meeting the expectations of a demanding ombudsperson, and always in virtual mode. The simple fact, for example, that we are now making public our service improvement requests requires constant exchanges to ensure that everything is in order. Meeting groups and individuals is one thing, but having to resort to doing this virtually requires significant changes and adaptation.

Then, our corporate services team continued to respond to the myriad of reporting requests of all kinds, budgeting, accounting, contracting and privacy inquiries. Not only that, they also deal with human resource tasks on an ongoing basis, in addition to managing office matters in pandemic times, and information technology needs. It is amazing what they accomplish and in doing so, they also help Canadians, just as much as their colleagues on the other teams.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I am pleased to highlight some of their work and thoughts in this annual report.

Mission

Our mission is to increase awareness of taxpayer rights and our services, influence positive change in the CRA’s service, enhance or improve the accountability of the CRA, and ensure people can trust that an independent resolution of complaints about the CRA’s service will be fair.

Vision

Our vision is to ensure that in every interaction, the CRA provides fair treatment and professional service, to help the CRA improve its services, and to preserve our distinction for fairness, professionalism and effectiveness.

To assess fairness we use the fairness triangle developed by the Saskatchewan Ombudsman and we agree with him when he writes that “[f]airness is not always simple and it does not always mean that everyone gets the exact same thing.”

Role

Our role is to improve the service the CRA provides to you. We do so by reviewing individual complaints and by conducting systemic examinations.

We fulfill this by communicating, facilitating, examining and influencing.

While we only have 30 employees to serve nearly 28 million tax filers, we strive to provide the best service possible. We do this by having everyone on our team playing an integral role, whether it is helping those who rely on the services we provide, managing our communications and social media, or ensuring the smooth running of our Office so that we have the necessary resources. Every employee in our Office pushes themselves towards our collective goal of improving the service the CRA provides while ensuring it is accountable, fair, and transparent. 

The Fairness Triangle.

Source: Saskatchewan Ombudsman - Developed from the concept of the satisfaction triangle, in: Moore, Christopher (2003). The Mediation Process: Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict (3rd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers

Confidentiality

Free, accessible services

Non-binding recommendations, but moral-suasion powers by being transparent and public

We work independently from the CRA, but we are administratively linked to it when managing financial and human resources. We also do not have direct access to taxpayer information found in CRA databases.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson’s mandate is to assist, advise, and inform the Minister, to whom he reports, about any matter relating to services provided by the CRA.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson carries out this mandate by reviewing and dealing with complaints about service concerns with any of the eight rights we uphold. It is set out in Article 4 of the Order in Council P.C. 2020-0703.

If your complaint falls outside the eight rights we uphold, go to canada.ca/cra-objections-appeals to find your recourse options.

Independence

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson operates at arm’s length from the CRA in the fulfilment of its mandate.

Objectivity

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson is not an advocate for the complainant, nor a defender of the CRA.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson considers the position and perspective of both the taxpayer and the CRA when examining a complaint or issue.

Fairness

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson acts with equity and justice.

Confidentiality

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson holds all communications with those seeking assistance in strict confidence and does not disclose confidential communications unless given permission to do so.

Standing alone, these rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights are simply declaratory in nature. Yet, they serve as a clear reminder to the CRA of their obligations towards the Canadian public. Our office is mandated, notably, to uphold rights 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights also contains a Commitment to Small Business.

We know you deserve service excellence and our team is driven, empathetic, and resourceful. Further, we embrace diversity because we know it helps to serve you better.

By taking an empathetic approach to your concern, we listen to you without any judgment and hope we can assist in resolving your service issue.

When you contact us, we are prompt to respond. All of our officers have toll-free numbers and we accept collect calls to make sure that we are available to the most vulnerable and to ensure that you don’t incur any costs when trying to resolve your concerns with the CRA.

Our officers will listen to you and ask questions about your situation. This helps us determine if your complaint falls under our mandate, and what steps can be taken to resolve it. Even if your complaint falls outside of our mandate, we will try to help you find the correct redress mechanism.

We are committed to providing the best possible service when resolving complaints. We fulfill this commitment to service by:

• acknowledging complaints within five business days
• providing you with an update every 15 business days

Urgent Process

We review complaints from people who are in a compelling situation, such as experiencing financial hardship. We understand that many of these situations require urgent action; therefore we prioritize these complaints and we will not direct you to complete Step 1 or 2 of the CRA’s service complaint process. We address these complaints by facilitating contact between you and the CRA.

We generally consider a situation to be compelling if waiting for CRA Service Feedback to finish its review will:

• limit you from having the basic necessities of life
• limit your business from operating
• significantly impact your wellbeing and/or reputation

Once we determine your situation is compelling and we make an urgent request to the CRA, it will contact you within three business days.

Standard Process

If you are not in a compelling situation, and you have completed Step 2, yet you’re not satisfied with the quality of service you received from the CRA, submit your complaint to us.

When examining your complaint, we may request information from both of you and the CRA as we do not have access to the CRA’s databases. By collecting information from you and the CRA, we maximize our chances to better understand your concerns.

Our goal is to resolve your complaint within 120 days from
when we start our examination. During this period you will have direct contact with the examination officer assigned to your case.

We may recommend the CRA:

• provide further explanation
• implement additional training
• contact the taxpayer
• make corrections
• issue an apology
• implement a procedure or policy change
• send a letter to a taxpayer
• update or create a service

Fatima submits a complaint to us. In the complaint she indicates the CRA is not reviewing the supporting documents proving her eligibility for the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) in a timely manner. She indicates without the CRB she won’t be able to make rent this month and could face eviction.

We considered Fatima’s situation as compelling, prioritized her complaint, and reached out to her as soon as we could.

Cascade Effect – Disability Tax Credit (DTC) Delay: Money Needed for Medication

The following story is based on actual events, but it has been changed to preserve the identity of the complainant, and to combine the common thoughts and feelings expressed by complainants. The names used are entirely fictitious.

Carl contacted our Enquiries phone line.

This support was made abundantly clear at the beginning of the pandemic, when emergency COVID-19 benefits were rolled out quickly to alleviate some of the financial stress and uncertainty that many were facing. The nature of the benefits then evolved, as the pandemic continued into its second year.

Throughout the last year, we heard from many Canadians, including our most vulnerable populations, telling us how the pandemic had impacted them. While the CRA issued benefits quickly to the majority of eligible Canadians, many who reached out to our Office told us they experienced delays in receiving their COVID-19 benefits while the CRA validated their entitlement, and described to us the financial hardship they were experiencing as a result. Some people were struggling to put food on the table; were unable to afford their medication or to keep up with their bills. We referred a record number of these compelling cases to the CRA, and requested that officials communicate urgently with the taxpayer to try and resolve their concern. In response, the CRA quickly contacted these taxpayers to assist them.

While we modestly reflect on our success stories in serving Canadians, we should not forget about our vulnerable populations, particularly those who do not file an income tax return.

We define vulnerable populations as a collection of diverse individuals who are disadvantaged and/or marginalized in some way. This could be due to socioeconomic factors, living situations, or difficulties accessing government services. In the present context, vulnerable populations may include:

• adults 65 years and older
• housing-insecure individuals;
• Indigenous Peoples;
• modest-income individuals
• newcomers;
• persons with disabilities;
• students.

The CRA has publicly reported that 93.5% of Canadians^{Footnote 1}  participate in the tax system, while some academics have estimated the figure could be between 88–90%.^{Footnote 2}  In any event, this means that there are people who are potentially missing out on programs and credits. The same could be said as well for many benefits that they missed out as many provincial/territorial and municipal levels rely on the T1 Return.

The CRA has made strides in recent years to identify the barriers to tax filing, and has introduced initiatives to make filing^{Footnote 3}  easier. These include File my Return, an automated telephone service for eligible individuals with a low or fixed income, and the Let us help you get your benefits! initiative, an intergovernmental initiative to support all Indigenous peoples and address barriers to accessing benefits.

As mentioned earlier, there is also an initiative to assist free tax clinics, where volunteers from community organizations across Canada help eligible people do their taxes for free through the CRA’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) or through Revenu Quebec’s Income Tax Assistance – Volunteer Program. The CVITP Grant Program is in its second year of a three-year pilot, and helps offset some costs incurred by community organizations that host free tax clinics and provide funding for income tax returns filed. It is not yet perfect, but this initiative is more than welcome.

We look forward to seeing the results of all the CRA’s initiatives.

We want to reach vulnerable non-filers and make them aware of the importance of tax filing, and the role of our Office. Over the 2022 2023 fiscal year, we will increase our engagement with organizations who serve vulnerable populations, get their feedback on the steps the CRA has taken to make filing easier and more accessible, find out how they may have impacted the clients they serve, and solicit their ideas for service improvement. We are fully aware of our limits, either in resources and capacities. But as we strive to be an agent of change, this ongoing non-filers situation needs to be addressed, every year, so that the CRA can continue to improve, or create, new service programs to help lower the number of Canadians who do not have access to benefits because they do not file. After all, many of these benefit programs were intended to help our vulnerable populations the most. Therefore, we pledge to do more on this issue and to keep you informed of our progress. Look out in 2022–2023 as we plan to launch a dedicated webpage on vulnerable populations.

Identifying

We not only examine your complaints, but we also look at issues that may impact more than one taxpayer or a segment of the population. We are particularly focused on concerns that could affect Canada’s vulnerable populations.

If we identify a systemic issue, we perform three steps before we reach a conclusion or make a recommendation. Specifically, we:

1. Research
2. Examine
3. Report

Examining

This year we opened an examination into the fairness of the CRA’s audit process for registered charities. We continued our examination into the communication provided by the CRA when it locked our users from their CRA Account in February 2021 and closed our Canada child benefit (CCB) examination because the Office of the Auditor General issued a complete report on the same questions.

On July 22, 2021, at the National Summit on Islamophobia, the Minister stated systemic racism and discrimination are important issues the CRA takes very seriously.

As part of the Minister’s commitment, she requested the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson examine concerns raised by certain Muslim-led registered charities and engage other registered charities led by racialized communities about their experiences with the CRA. In particular, the Minister requested the examination focus on the concerns linked to the selection of audit files, the quality of the services offered and the efforts taken by the CRA to sensitize its employees to unconscious biases.

This year we took preliminary steps in this examination. These included:

• forming a Special Ombudsperson Response Team
• holding meetings with CRA officials and stakeholders
• requesting information from the CRA
• calling on registered charities to share their experiences with us
• launching a questionnaire
• keeping you in the loop on what we are doing

Given the depth and breadth of the examination, our research thus far, the volume of material we received, and desire to examine the audit process carefully and sensitively, we foresee this examination will continue throughout the 2022–2023 fiscal year.

In February 2021, we launched our review into the communications implemented by the CRA when it locked out 187,000 Canadians from their CRA account earlier that month. This issue became front and centre at our Office on February 16, 2021, when we saw a spike in complaints about CRA accounts, heard first-hand from Canadians, and saw reports in the media. Affected CRA account users were all reporting being locked out of their account after receiving an email from the CRA.

This year we made strides in this examination and we plan to publish our findings in the 2022–2023 fiscal year. Look out for our report on our Influencing Change website.

Throughout the years we heard and received complaints about the CRA’s requirements for proving eligibility for the CCB, therefore, in 2019 we opened an examination. In particular we heard issues with proving entitlement, validation, and the information the CRA made available. Specifically, we heard the requirements were often not clear and, in the cases of some vulnerable Canadians, difficult to fulfill.

While we were conducting our examination, we knew the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) was also conducting a performance audit, and in February 2021, it published Report 4 Canada Child Benefit — Canada Revenue Agency.

The CRA’s implementation of the OAG’s recommendations, including its review of acceptable documents, procedures, and communication tools, as well as potential information sharing will address many of the concerns we heard. Further, complaints we receive surrounding service issues from the CRA’s administration of the CCB remains low. Therefore, we have decided to suspend this examination.

We look forward to the CRA’s implementation of its action plan to the OAG’s recommendations.

During our examination, we identified an issue that could affect vulnerable Canadians, including those residing in temporary shelters. Therefore, we made a service improvement request as we knew it required immediate action. Specifically, we found the CRA provided incomplete information and we recommended it update its information for Canadians in an abusive or violent situation.

1. Delays in Receiving COVID-19 Benefits

For the second year, Canadians contacting us are identifying service issues when trying to receive COVID 19 benefits from the CRA. This year’ COVID-19 benefits concerns account for 40% of what we heard. The most prominent reason is that many feel they need to wait too long to receive their benefit. Generally, this was because of delays in validating their eligibility by the CRA.

The CRA further exacerbated the problem because it was publicly informing Canadians to expect validation to take up to eight weeks (in normal times it is four weeks). We
consistently flagged this concern to the CRA and questioned what it was doing to reduce these delays for Canadians. We even made a service improvement request in an attempt to influence positive change at the CRA.

Yet, there is still much room for improvement when the CRA is communicating transparently to Canadians and delivering timely services.

2. Quality of Service Provided by CRA Contact Centres

The CRA’s contact centres continue to
be a large complaint driver. For years, we have heard from Canadians about their dissatisfaction with this service. While most of the issues we hear come from dissatisfaction with the CRA’s main line, the Individual Tax Enquiries Line, we do hear about issues with its other contact centres. Some of the issues Canadians expressed to our Office related to excessive wait times, receiving conflicting or inconsistent information, or calls being prematurely disconnected.”

We hope our recommendation five of our 2020–2021 Annual Report will begin to make a dent in these long-standing issues when put in place by the CRA.

The CRA has informed us that while it has made strides to improve its contact centre services, prioritize more complex calls by encouraging the use of self-serving options, and foster a culture of putting people first, there is still work to be done.

Throughout the year we heard from Canadians who could not gain access to their CRA account. They may have received a letter by registered mail indicating they were affected by a security incident, provided incorrect credentials too many times in a row, or were just a new CRA account user. One thing however, is that all these people need a security code to gain full access. Without it they only have limited access to their CRA account. Some of you expressed your frustrations about requesting a CRA security code, and never getting it. Others have come to us indicating they have waited weeks for it to arrive. We have also heard from the CRA that there have been exceptional circumstances where a code is provided through another method. The CRA website implies it is a choice to receive the code by mail; specifically it indicates “If you choose to have the code mailed, we will mail it to the address we have on file.” However, we have heard from Canadians that the CRA’s current desired method (by mail) is not timely enough and sometimes never comes.

While we acknowledge the essential commitment that the CRA has made to protect taxpayers’ online accounts and prevent fraud, we think the CRA needs to provide more convenient options for Canadians to receive a CRA security code, in a timely manner. 

In addition, there are times when the CRA will not provide a security code until it verifies who you are and we have heard this can take many weeks. For a lot of Canadians, this can feel like an eternity when you need access to the information found in their CRA account. Many Canadians rely on the CRA to access their important tax information, such as their Notice of Assessment (NOA). Such documents are often used to apply for loans and mortgages which are time sensitive. Knowing this, the CRA could provide more convenient options for Canadians to prove their identity and find ways to do so in a timely manner.

The elimination of the CRA’s counter service in 2014 has left a gap in service. The lack of in-person support makes it difficult for some Canadians to prove their identity. Comparatively, at financial institutions clients’ identity can easily be verified by referring them to one of their branches. However, because the CRA has no in-person counter service, this leaves it having to verify a Canadians identity in other ways. That said, we know there are some financial institutions that have no branches, yet they verify someone’s identity through a trusted third party. This simplifies and expedites the process because their clients only need to go to the trusted third party to verify their identity. The trusted third party then instantly and securely communicates this to the financial institution.

We continue to hear about concerns related to the CCB; however, it is important to note they only represent a small percentage of the complaints we received, less than 5%. Some Canadians told us they experience delays in the CRA processing of their CCB application, verifying their eligibility, or they were late because of delays in the CRA’s processing of their tax and benefit return. This has left some of them waiting on a benefit they rely on.

We are continuing to watch out for any trending concerns, as we know that the CCB as one of the leading benefits the CRA provides to almost four million Canadians. As we indicated in our section on Systemic service issues, we expect the CRA to continue to take action on the Auditor General’s recommendations and look forward to seeing what it provides, in this regard, by its July 2022 deadline.

This was because taxpayers who received the benefit from Service Canada could request reinstatement of the GIS which was not available to those who received it from the CRA, because the CRA indicates there is no regulatory or legislative authority for the CRA to take other steps or interim measures to have their GIS reinstated. Legislation provided for more flexibility to Service Canada CERB recipients as they could submit a form to Service Canada and get special consideration.

As this was a big concern for so many, especially in our outreach activities, we questioned the CRA to ensure clear communication had been provided. However, this situation fast became a concern to the Government of Canada as a whole and this issue was thoroughly debated in Parliament. The government set aside $742.4 million to
offset the GIS and OAS claw backs. These payments were intended to reimburse the losses suffered by affected taxpayers, and will not be counted as taxable income.

We felt the CRA’s initial banners advising applicants of potential interactions between the COVID-19 benefits and provincial or territorial social assistance were unclear. Some taxpayers may not associate the term “social assistance” with the GIS or OAS. Additionally, referencing provincial or territorial benefits could have confused taxpayers, as the GIS and OAS are not provincially or territorially managed. While we recognize that obtaining clarity on the impact of all new programs on Canadian’s benefits is an issue for the Government of Canada, the CRA does play an important role to adequately inform Canadians. The messaging the CRA provided on Canada.ca about the impact of receiving the CERB could have explicitly identified the GIS, OAS and other income-tested benefits.

To be clear, as an example, the CERB is a supplement of income that could affect other social benefits Canadians may rely upon. Canadians should be well informed that benefits, such as the CERB, increase an individual’s income and by doing so, it could affect other benefits based on income.

When carrying out our Canada child benefit (CCB) examination, we remained cognizant of a previous request the Minister made to us to assist her by examining if any service issues exist for women when trying to receive their CCB while residing in a temporary shelter with their children.

In addition, when identifying opportunities for service improvement, we try to focus our attention on helping Canadians who are the most vulnerable. This led us to identify an issue that could affect vulnerable Canadians, including those residing in temporary shelters.

To improve the clarity and completeness of information available to Canadians who are in an abusive or violent situation, as well as the service the CRA provides them, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson requested the CRA create an active webpage on what a taxpayer should do when the CRA requires, or requests, information, or documents, that may put them in danger. For example, this webpage would inform taxpayers who are at-risk that:

• A spouse’s signature is not required on the form RC66 Canada Child Benefits Application includes federal, provincial, and territorial programs.
• A letter from a trusted third party, for example the Band Council, a resettlement agency, or a religious entity that can be provided instead of what the CRA requested.

Therefore, we made a service improvement request for the CRA to:

• Review its Payments to the CRA webpages to ensure that the CRA provides consistent and relevant information to Canadians. This includes making Canadians aware that they have the options of repaying their COVID-19 benefits, over time.
• Centralize the information provided on Payments to the CRA and Collections at the CRA to ensure that the information provided is consistent, relevant, and easily accessible.

Following our request the CRA made
updates to many of its webpages. It now sufficiently informs Canadians they have options to repay their COVID-19 benefits over time. However, while some of its pages are more comprehensive, we continue to collaborate with the CRA, to ensure that it fully implements our request and ensures its webpages are intuitive for Canadians.

A legal representative contacted our Office with a service issue. They indicated the CRA only allowed taxpayers or their legal representatives to view and request uncashed cheques from the CRA. Which left authorized representatives, who were not legal representatives, unable to view or request unclaimed funds. They told us this could affect vulnerable Canadians who could not manage their own income tax affairs.

We raised this issue with the CRA and were told it was exploring ways to facilitate better access to uncashed cheques for all Canadians who have representatives. We were therefore pleased when the CRA indicated that in the spring of 2022, it planned to expand access. They explained the change will allow Level 1 and 2 representatives with view access of uncashed cheques and Level 2 representatives with the ability to request a duplicate payment.

As noted in our Office’s 2020 report, Reaching Out, the CVITP is an important program that assists many Canadians, particularly the most vulnerable. We made many recommendations in our report and we are pleased the CRA continues to adapt and innovate while it takes action to address them. The assistance in filing their income tax and benefit returns not only helps Canadians comply with their income tax obligations but can help open the door to many benefits and credits.

The CRA continued support to partner organizations hosting virtual clinics for those that rely on this service is vital. This allowed the CRA to continue to provide support for Canada’s vulnerable populations through unforeseen circumstances, while addressing some of the concerns we raised in our report about access.

The CRA is also administering the CVITP Grant program, a three-year pilot project to help offset costs incurred by community organizations that host free tax clinics and provide funding for income tax returns filed. The CRA began accepting grant applications for funding on May 1, 2021.

The program’s goal is to improve recruitment and retention of volunteer organizations, which was another concern we raised in the report. Definitely, more needs to be said about the program and how it can be improved, but for the moment, the CRA is going in the right direction. We will continue to monitor this key program throughout our outreach activities and will provide you with a final update when the CRA completes its action plan on our Influencing Change page.

One of our major complaints drivers this year was caused by delays Canadians faced with the CRA validating their eligibility for COVID-19 benefits.

While we recognize that the vast majority of Canadians did not face delays in receiving their COVID-19 benefits, in the beginning of 2021, many of the Canadians who contacted us expressed their frustration with their inability to obtain COVID-19 benefits in a timely manner.

This was because the CRA did not allow Canadians to apply for COVID-19 benefits without first validating their eligibility. As a result, many Canadians were left in limbo and could not apply for, or receive the vital COVID-19 benefits which many relied on to provide the basic  necessities of life for themselves, and their families.

On many occasions, Canadians’ frustrations were further exacerbated after they spoke to CRA validation contact centre agents, because the agents were initially not sufficiently empowered to provide meaningful responses, or take action on specific cases.

Specifically, some complainants told us that agents were unable to provide a specific timeframe for processing their application, would refuse to identify themselves, or
sometimes even hung up on them.

Later in the year, the CRA reviewed this process, adjusted it to focus on confirming the $5,000 of eligibility income, and put in place an attestation approach for the remaining eligibility criteria. This provided greater authority to agents, yet, validation issues persisted. The issues only subsided later in the year, and the CRA indicated this is because it added resources and made efforts to streamline the process, but the discontinuation of the CRB, following the easing of pandemic measures was also a significant contributing factor.

Our Office took many actions to try to address the issues surrounding validation. We sent a record number of urgent requests to the CRA for Canadians in compelling situations. In addition, we requested briefings from the CRA to better understand the problem. However, we heard the lack of meaningful, complete, accurate, clear, and timely information being provided was a problem to those who reached out to us.

This would help to ensure Canadians are not left feeling anxious or wondering why their submission has not been processed. In addition, it would also reduce the necessity of them contacting the CRA.

However, the CRA did not implement our request. It informed us that this was because the CRA had to focus its information technology resources on delivering COVID-19 benefits to Canadians.

While it updated its webpage to reflect that applications can take up to eight weeks to process, it did not accurately provide realistic timeframes.

Soon thereafter, we began to hear from complainants who indicated they had been waiting over 12 weeks for their application to be processed. In our communications with the CRA, it identified two streams for applications:

• Non-complex (up to a four-week processing time)
• Complex (up to an eight-week processing time)

The CRA considered all applications processed within those standard timeframes. However, applications were only considered non-complex or complex once a validation officer reviewed the case. When carrying out our research, we found there were many unassigned cases, which were neither identified as non-complex or complex, but exceeded the service expectation provided on the CRA’s webpage.

Further, we were informed in June 2021 that 40% of the unassigned cases exceeded an eight-week processing time. While the CRA significantly reduced the backlog to 2% by September 2021, the CRA indicated to us that it increased in January 2022, with 4% of its unassigned cases exceeding the eight-week processing time.

Each unassigned case that exceeds the eightweek processing time is one Canadian that is left in the dark with no clear understanding as to why their case is not being processed.

We are cognizant of the workload strain this program has put on the CRA’s resources, yet we feel communication is key and keeping Canadians informed should be a top priority for the CRA. It has the capacity to do so individually, and on its webpages, therefore it should have processes in place to adequately inform Canadians.

Disability Tax Credit Certificate — Form T2201

We were pleased when in October 2021, the CRA launched a new digital application for medical practitioners to complete their portion of a disability tax credit (DTC) application. This coincided with the release of an updated version of Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, and the DTC Guide, RC4064 Disability Related Information – 2021.

By simplifying the form, applying for the DTC was made easier for persons with disabilities as well as for medical practitioners. There are still a number of issues as referred to in the two reports made by the Disability Advisory Committee, but it is a step in the right direction nonetheless.

“Learn About Your Taxes”

The CRA launched a new online learning tool called “Learn about your taxes”. The tool is a helpful aid for Canadians who might be learning about income taxes for the first
time, or just want a refresher. It has lessons on various topics, such as preparing to file the tax return, how to complete it, as well as what to expect after the return has been filed. It also includes lessons on using My Account, and includes quizzes. We found the series to be informative and well-thought out — we even learned a thing or two ourselves!

It is very important to hear about these issues and situations that are not always brought forward through complaints to the Office. On occasion, recurring issues are identified during these meetings and we can determine whether there exists a systemic issue that creates a barrier to many Canadians. Being able to meet with individuals, groups and organizations helps them to better understand the role of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson and how we can effect change with the CRA. As well, meeting with provincial, federal and international ombudspersons, allows us to better understand best practices.

This year, we have met with most federal/provincial ombudsmen and made some new connections with international tax ombudsmen in Mexico and Chile. In addition to these meetings, we continued to pursue collaborations and partnerships with multiple stakeholders and organizations that put the vulnerable populations a priority.

Outreach can bring to light gaps in access, availability of information and supports required to fulfill our tax obligations and access benefits and credits. Many of these groups and individuals represent our most vulnerable citizens and are the voice for many who experience barriers in accessing services and benefits. Northern and rural communities have proven to experience these challenges, therefore, they will be our priority for the upcoming year.

We also had a greater media presence this year through national, provincial and regional media outlets across the country.

We launched our own YouTube channel and increased our presence on social media. On Facebook for example, our page engagement increased dramatically.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson also gave multiple media interviews and recently ventured into the podcasting world. For example, the Ombudsperson was a guest twice on the podcast “Moolala,” which aims to increase personal financial and fiscal literacy.

Recommendation

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA provide a link, from its landing page canada.ca/revenue-agency, and canada.ca/taxes, to our landing page canada.ca/taxpayers-ombudsperson. These webpages get millions of visitors. Providing a link to our Office will help connect with more Canadians and increase exposure.

Recommendation

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA make Canadians
aware they can complain or provide feedback about the service it provides, as
many Canadians (and sometimes even CRA employees) are not aware the CRA
has a three-step service complaint process. Starting with including this information
in products by providing a link to Service feedback, objections, appeals,
disputes, and relief measures on its homepage canada.ca/revenue-agency, on
canada.ca/taxes, on social media, as well as in correspondence to taxpayers.

Recommendation

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA create a process to ensure that any unclassified information that is provided by a CRA area to assist contact centre agents is also made publicly available. For example, it should also be made available on the CRA website. Having current, clear, and accessible information available to all Canadians could reduce the calls to the CRA, and therefore, save time, resources, and energy for all.

Recommendation

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA develop a way for people to securely submit documents electronically, without the need for them to access their CRA account. With the CRA workplace transitioning due to the pandemic, in person counter service no longer being offered, as well as the lack of access to drop boxes, the CRA has an opportunity to reimagine how Canadians provide their documents and other information.

Recommendation

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA provide Canadians with the opportunity to request a callback, without the need to call the contact centre first.

We want to make sure that all Canadians are aware of our services. By looking at where complaints come from, and where they don’t, we hope to continue to target our outreach activities to better serve all Canadians.

Complaints

Received online, by mail, fax, or phone. Once we receive a complaint we will review it to see which step it is at in the CRA’s Service Complaint Process, or if there is a compelling situation

Enquiries

Received by phone, mail, or fax. This is the first step a complainant might take to see if we can help. It also gives us the opportunity to find out what the issue is. We can then direct the complainant to the appropriate service recourse.

Urgent requests

If we identify an urgent compelling situation in a complaint, we make an urgent request to the CRA by facilitating contact between the complainant and the CRA.

Complaints referred to CRA Service Feedback

When we receive a complaint and the complainant is not in a compelling situation and
has not completed Step 2 of the CRA’s Service Complaint Process, we refer their complaint
to CRA Service Feedback.