Annual Report 2024–2025: Clearing the Path

Publication Date: June 20, 2025

Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson

1000-171 Slater Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5H7

Telephone: 613-221-3109 | Toll-free: 1-866-586-3839
Fax: 418-566-0321 | Toll-free fax: 1-866-586-3855

© Minister of Government Transformation, Public Services and Procurement 2025

Cat. No.: Rv6E-PDF
ISSN: 2564-1727

The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne P.C., M.P.
Minister of Finance and National Revenue
7th Floor
555 Mackenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5

Dear Minister:

Pursuant to Order in Council P.C. 2020-0703, I am pleased to submit to you the 2024–2025 Annual Report entitled “Clearing the Path,” which covers the activities of the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson for the period of April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.

Yours sincerely,

Mr. François Boileau 
Taxpayers' Ombudsperson

Throughout my tenure, I have compared the CRA to a large ship and the OTO to a zodiac following in its shadow. With over 50,000 employees, the CRA is the largest federal department in Canada, administering many different tax programs, promoting compliance with Canada’s tax legislation, and also issuing crucial benefit payments and tax credits to taxpayers. Comparatively, the OTO has just over 30 employees. A good number of them work on the front line of our Office, taking incoming calls and speaking with complainants about their cases. Other employees work in our examination team reviewing service complaints and communicating with individuals, businesses and representatives about their concerns. Our Office has also spoken to countless organizations about what they are hearing from community members regarding the CRA’s service.

It is clear that service matters to taxpayers. We have heard from over 32,000 individuals who have filed complaints to our Office since it opened at the beginning of 2008. Some may not have received the results they were hoping for after our examination, while others may have been surprised by the amount of money uncovered through the research and determination of our staff and the cooperation of the CRA. Whatever the outcome, taxpayers are pleased that someone listened and helped them.

As you can see, numbers do speak volumes, and the high number of calls and complaints that we have been experiencing is testament to an increasing need for our services. Our backlog of complaint files may be prolonging the outcome for many complainants, but we will continue to provide fair access to service. And when we hear from individuals who may need our immediate attention due to a compelling situation, we make their case a priority. Our timely help could mean the difference between purchasing their own groceries or relying on a food bank.

On top of our work on individual complaints, our Office has a special team that unearths systemic issues that have the potential to impact a large number of taxpayers or a segment of the population, including those who are our most vulnerable. During my mandate, we reported on four of these systemic examinations. By identifying areas where the CRA could improve its service, we work to make sure it is upholding your rights as outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

As you can see, although I may be the face of the OTO, I would not be able to list so many accomplishments without the help of many hands.

Thank you to the numerous organizations that we have visited and who provided us with valuable insights into the lives of the communities they serve. These organizations are instrumental to the well-being and livelihood of thousands of Canadians. From the start of my mandate, I understood that there were some taxpayers who did not file their returns. Many of these non-filers belong to vulnerable segments of the population, and by not filing a return, they could lose out on credits and benefits that they may be entitled to. Throughout the years, our team has made great efforts to better understand the issues of vulnerable, hard-to-reach non-filers and how best we can tackle these issues in order for them to access their benefits and credits. We have made recommendations to the CRA to address some of the challenges, including how to better identify, demographically, who these non-filers are, and to enhance free tax clinics under the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program.

Thank you to the Commissioner of the CRA and the numerous program branches within the Agency for the collaborative and productive relationships that they have helped foster with me and our team. I value every opportunity they have provided us to learn more about their programs and what they do for taxpayers. We must remember that behind the curtain are dedicated people who are doing their best to improve service to taxpayers.

Thank you to the CRA’s corporate branches for the functional support they provided for the operation of my Office. Thank you also to the CRA’s Ombudsperson Liaison Office, which coordinates and facilitates all service-related requests from our Office.

Thank you to the successive Ministers of National Revenue whom I had the privilege of advising throughout my tenure. It was my honour to brief them on the work conducted by our Office and the service improvements we recommended to the CRA.

Thank you to all of the members of our team, who have been supportive of my endeavours throughout the years. The work that you have accomplished in the past years has been nothing short of awe-inspiring, and you have made me tremendously proud. It has been a true honour and a pleasure to work with such dedicated people, and I have no doubt that my successor will continue clearing the path for many more taxpayers who need quality service to not only meet their tax obligations but also access their credits and benefits.

Last but definitely not least, thank you to all of the Canadians who demand better service from the CRA and who make the effort to reach out to the OTO when they need to. Thank you for your trust and your patience as we continue to struggle with overwhelming demands that create real pressure on our staff. Given the fiscal realities, access to quality services from the CRA, and even from our own Office, will surely be tested. Let us also not forget that for all those who reach out to us for help, many more will never know about us and will never complain for a multitude of reasons. An ombuds office such as ours is a place to give a voice to the voiceless, and I am immensely proud of our continuing achievements in this regard.

The mandate of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson is to assist, advise and inform the Minister of Finance and National Revenue about any matter relating to services provided to a taxpayer by the CRA.

Fairness

We are impartial, independent, rigorous and evidence-focused when examining service issues.

Confidentiality

We hold all communications with those seeking assistance in strict confidence, and will only disclose information if permission is given, or required by an Act of Parliament.

Responsive

We respond to complaints and enquiries with empathy, attention and respect.

Credible

We act with transparency, accountability and integrity.

Our role is to improve the service the CRA provides to taxpayers. We do this by reviewing individual complaints and by looking into issues that can affect more than one person or a segment of the population.

Although we only have around 30 employees to serve over 40 million Canadians, we strive to provide the best service possible. The size of our team does not stop us from listening to and helping a wide variety of taxpayers across the country.

All taxpayers’ issues are different. Depending on the individual situation, we will take different courses of action. For many taxpayers who contacted us, we told them how they could complain to the CRA about its service. Although we are always happy to help taxpayers experiencing service-related issues with the CRA, generally they must try to resolve the situation with the CRA before our Office can get involved.

To help streamline the intake process, we changed the phone menu for callers to our Office. Complainants are now presented with more personalized information before they reach an agent. And even if someone calls outside of our hours of operation, the message gives them more helpful information about the service complaint process.

That being said, callers who do choose to stay on the line to speak with an officer may do so to get more information or because they need the officer’s help to submit their complaint. They may also tell us about multiple issues that result from one core problem. For example, CRA delays in processing an income tax and benefit return can be frustrating for taxpayers at the best of times, but they can also cause delays in the payment of crucial benefits, such as the Canada child benefit (CCB) and the goods and services tax/ harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) credit.

The top five complaint trends this year were:

Total calls answered on enquiries line

Complaints received

Urgent requests (sent to CRA)

One of the challenges our Office faces is the lack of public awareness that we exist. We cannot help those who do not contact us, but they cannot contact us if they do not know we exist.

As such, we use a variety of methods to inform the public about our Office and what we do. The simplest method we use is social media. Our Office has accounts on Facebook, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn, which we use to inform taxpayers and community organizations about our systemic examinations, reports and other work.

Another way we communicate to the public is through media relations. We regularly publish media releases about our work, and we connect with journalists across Canada to reach a broader audience.

We also regularly schedule outreach events, either in-person or virtually, across Canada to hear directly from taxpayers and organizations representing vulnerable populations about the service issues they have faced when dealing with the CRA. Most years, we run booths at trade shows across the country to meet with the public, explain our mandate, hear about taxpayers’ experiences, and tell them about their rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Additionally, each fiscal year we usually schedule three or four trips to cities across Canada, during which the Ombudsperson meets with community organizations (including those offering services through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program), chartered professional accountants, and other representatives. If there is a CRA tax centre, tax services office or national verification and collections centre in the area, the Ombudsperson will also take the opportunity to meet with employees and learn about their programs and how they work. These visits are also a great way to demystify our work for CRA employees and to learn how we both work to improve services for taxpayers.

However, because of budget constraints, this year we had to cancel many of our in-person outreach events. Although we attended close to the usual number during the first half of the fiscal year, we had to pivot our strategy during the second half to better align with the changing reality of our budget. The second half of the fiscal year therefore focused on streamlining our processes, scheduling virtual outreach, and revisiting our social media strategies to make sure we are using our tools as effectively as possible.

Lastly, we have a small budget for external communications. Depending on our Office’s goals for the year as well as issues we have been monitoring, we will choose a specific target audience and method to most effectively use this budget. The campaign, which ran through March, looked to educate low-income populations in the top five metropolitan cities in Canada (Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal) about our services and increase overall awareness of our Office. Our messaging communicated not only the idea that the OTO is here to help with service-related CRA issues, but also the importance of the three-step process for submitting a complaint.

It is important that the ways we communicate with the public are as accessible as possible. The Accessible Canada Act came into force in 2019 with a goal to build a barrier-free Canada by January 1, 2040. In December 2021, the Accessible Canada Regulations put into motion new requirements to identify, remove, and prevent barriers to accessibility for all federal public service organizations.

While 2040 seems like a long time from now, the accessibility requirements and demands are continuously evolving. As a result, we have established new goals for our Office.

Despite budget constraints, we were able to participate in several outreach events across Canada.

In addition to the events in Canada, we attended two international conferences.

At the 13^th International Ombudsman Institute Conference in the Hague, Netherlands, we engaged with ombuds and human rights activists from around the globe to discuss topics affecting the world. We explored how ombuds offices can address various topics such as defining ombuds values, preparing for the effects of climate change, engaging with vulnerable populations, and ensuring the inclusion of future generations.

We also participated in the 9^th Taxpayer Bill of Rights International Conference, organized by the Center for Taxpayers Rights, in Antwerp, Belgium. During the conference, we attended information sessions about artificial intelligence, data collection, transparency, and fairness as it relates to taxes. During this conference, Mr. Boileau was part of a panel on how to digitalize services without leaving anyone behind. We also networked with ombuds and tax specialists from around the world to further discuss those topics and find out how they advocate for taxpayers in their respective countries.

2024–2025 was the last full fiscal year of Mr. François Boileau’s five-year mandate as Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson. We would like to take the opportunity to share some highlights from this period.

• October 5: Mr. Boileau begins his five-year term as Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson.

• February 23: Launched systemic examination into how the CRA communicated with taxpayers locked out of My Account in mid-February 2021.
• April 26: Sent a request for service improvement (RFSI) for CRA to improve clarity for taxpayers regarding emergency benefit validation time frames.
• August 5: Launched systemic examination into fairness of the audit process for charitable organizations led by racialized communities.
• September 3: Sent RFSI for CRA to improve clarity and completeness of information for Canadians facing domestic abuse.
• September 16: Sent RFSI for CRA to improve the online information available to Canadians on their options when they owe money.
• December 16: Publication of 2020–2021 annual report, including five recommendations, a first for this Office, to include recommendations in an annual report.

• September 13: First in-person event for OTO after COVID-19 pandemic—the United States Ombudsman Association Annual Conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
• September 27–29: Ombudsperson travels to Montréal and Québec City to meet with community and government organizations.
• November 7–9: Ombudsperson travels to Toronto to meet with community and government organizations.
• November 25: Sent RFSI for CRA to further improve the clarity and completeness of information available to Canadians in an abusive or violent situation.
• December 13: Publication of 2021–2022 annual report, including three recommendations.

• January 24: Publication of systemic examination report about how the CRA communicated with taxpayers locked out of My Account in mid-February 2021, including five recommendations.
• February 21–23: Ombudsperson travels to Halifax and Dartmouth to meet with community and government organizations.
• March 7–9: Ombudsperson travels to Vancouver to meet with community and government organizations.
• March 13: Sent RFSI for CRA to improve its service to Canadians and to reinforce the treatment they are entitled to when they deal with the CRA.
• March 23: Sent RFSI for CRA to make it easier for Canadians to use My Account.
• March 27: Publication of systemic examination report about fairness of the audit process for charities led by racialized communities, including one recommendation.
• March 29: Sent RFSI for CRA to improve the information it provides to Indigenous Peoples.
• June 19–20: Ombudsperson travels to Jonquière and Saguenay to meet with community and government organizations.
• July 11: Announcement of request that the CRA make improvements to respect Canadians’ right to be represented by a person of their choice.
• July 26: Statement welcoming the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau as new Minister of National Revenue.
• November 21–22: Ombudsperson travels to Iqaluit to meet with community and government organizations.
• November 28: Publication of 2022–2023 annual report, including four recommendations.

• February 27–29: Ombudsperson travels to Calgary to meet with community and government organizations.
• March 5: Sent RFSI for CRA to make its call centres’ hours more accessible across the country.
• March 26: Launched systemic examination into delays in Canada child benefit payments for temporary residents.
• July 10: Launched systemic examination into CRA’s administration of 2023 bare trust filing requirements.
• October 8: Publication of 2023–2024 annual report, including three recommendations.
• December 20: Statement welcoming the Honourable Élisabeth Brière as new Minister of National Revenue.

• March 5: Publication of systemic examination report regarding CRA’s administration of 2023 bare trust filing requirements.
• March 18: Publication of systemic examination report regarding delays in Canada child benefit payments for temporary residents.

A running theme we have seen with CRA service issues is communication, or lack thereof. When taxpayers complain to our Office, we often hear that it is difficult to reach the CRA and that the information it provides is unclear.

The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) is planning to release a report in 2025 on the CRA’s contact centres.

As part of this work, in December 2024, we met with the OAG. They were in the preliminary stages of planning their audit, and they asked for our comments regarding the causes of the contact centre issues, possible solutions, and which contact centres would be most appropriate for the audit.

We presented our observations related to the subjects of common complaints from taxpayers about CRA contact centres, including:

We also explained what information we were missing to create a full picture and suggested possible solutions to some trends we have seen.

The OAG plans to table their report in Fall 2025. To avoid duplication of work, we will wait to see the outcome of the OAG’s work before deciding if our Office should take any additional action that was not covered by the OAG.

Although we are not currently carrying out a full review of the CRA’s contact centre services, we regularly flag areas for improvement when we find them.

For example, during the tax-filing season, the CRA published a contextual alert on its Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR) for individuals web page:

On April 12, 2024, we asked the CRA how it was preparing for this payment date. Specifically, we wanted to know its plan for addressing calls from individuals who filed after March 15 but thought they were supposed to get the CCR payment on April 15.

The CRA told us that it had not originally added a message to its contact centre menu on April 15 because it had already widely published messaging on Canada.ca, social media, and My Account, explaining that taxpayers needed to file by March 15 to receive the payment on April 15. By the time we sent our enquiry on April 12, the deadline had been publicly promoted for months. The CRA also told us that adding new messaging about these dates to its contact centre menu would take too long.

That being said, the CRA did eventually update the messaging in on its telephone line submenu for the GST/HST credit and the CCR. On April 26, 2024, the CRA added information about how the filing date affected the CCR payment date. However, it added this messaging 11 days after the April 15 CCR payment date.

Between April 15 and 19, 2024, the Individual Tax Enquiries Line and the Benefits Enquiries Line answered a total of 265,589 calls. Of this number, 8,021 were from people calling about why they had not received the CCR payment, and 2,369 of these calls were related to returns filed or assessed after March 15, 2024.

If the CRA had added the messaging to its phone lines before April 15, it could have possibly prevented over 2,000 callers from needing to reach an agent. This reduction could have let other callers reach an agent faster.

We also raised another issue with the CRA regarding contact centres. This year, the CRA began deflecting millions of callers to its automated services, and we heard from taxpayers who were disappointed and frustrated with this change. In July 2024, a generally busy month at the CRA’s contact centres, the CRA deflected 1.5 million callers from its Individual Tax Enquiries Line. It did this to keep its average wait times to about 30 minutes. However, as a result, callers could not reach an agent directly and were only given the option to either use the CRA’s automated services or call back another time.

However, we found that the CRA does not always provide this service during the call. For example, on November 25, 2024, CRA contact centre agents stopped proactively informing taxpayers if they have uncashed cheques from the CRA. Previously, if a taxpayer with an uncashed cheque called the CRA contact centre, the agent would receive a popup prompting them to inform the taxpayer about the cheque. This was a good service that helped taxpayers, so we were confused about why the CRA had stopped.

Right away, we asked the CRA for more details about why it was discontinuing this service. Shortly after we made a request, on December 11, 2024, the CRA resumed it. The CRA indicated that it did so as a result of discussions with stakeholders and our Office’s enquiry. We were pleased that, through our continuous efforts to look for opportunities for the CRA to improve the service it offers to taxpayers, we could accomplish this win for taxpayers.

The contact centres are not always taxpayers’ first choice for getting information from the CRA. Before calling, taxpayers will often try to find the information they need on Canada.ca. However, if the information is unclear, not available, or hard to find, they may feel they have to call to get clarity.

The CRA’s qualitative public opinion research study (PDF, 1.3 MB) published in March 2024 looked into various aspects of taxpayers’ service expectations for the CRA’s contact centres. Some participants who first consulted CRA web pages pointed out three main types of reasons for proceeding to call the CRA after navigating the website:

• “The website provides general information but the participant was looking for information specific to their needs or circumstances.”
• They “[c]ould not find sufficient or relevant information on the website.”
• They “[w]anted to be sure they understood the information.”

The CRA is responsible for thousands of web pages for Canada.ca, so it is understandable that not all of the content is available or presented in the best way. Through our work, we have found a number of areas that could be improved.

Frequently, the CRA has information published online, but the way it is presented is not always helpful to taxpayers.

Not intuitive

Some of the CRA’s information on Canada.ca is presented in a way that is not intuitive for the average taxpayer. In other words, some tools or pages would require insider knowledge of the CRA’s policies and processes to fully understand.

For example, the “Check CRA processing times” tool provides the expected timelines for the CRA to process certain documents. This tool only provides timelines for tax-related requests that have an associated service standard.

According to the CRA’s Service Standards 2023–2024 web page, a service standard “publicly state[s] the level of performance that citizens can reasonably expect to encounter under normal circumstances.” But the CRA also has internal processing times for many requests that it does not have to report publicly.

The “Check CRA processing times” tool does not include timelines when there is an estimated internal processing time but no service standard. There is no message on the page explaining this fact.

The average taxpayer would not know that there is a difference between a service standard and an internal processing time. If they are looking for a processing time that does not have an associated service standard, they would likely be confused about why they cannot find the timeline they are looking for. This could lead them to call the CRA to get the information they are looking for.

In our 2022–2023 annual report, we recommended that the CRA update its “Check CRA processing times” tool to include tax returns and tax-related requests that have internal processing timeframes but no service standard. In response, the CRA said that it was updating the tool to add newly implemented service standards. However, the CRA’s action plan does not address the request to add internal processing timeframes to the tool.

Inconsistent

In addition to its regular web pages, the CRA has many publications that it makes available online. As a result, there are multiple pages that have similar—but not identical—information.

Sometimes, the information across web pages and products can be inconsistent or conflicting.

We flagged such a situation in our report released in March 2025, Timing Is Everything. A full analysis of the situation is included in the report, but in short, the CRA has information for newcomers, including temporary residents, about the CCB on its web pages as well as in a factsheet, pamphlet and guide. During our examination, we found a lack of consistency in the CRA’s information for newcomers, which could lead to confusion for temporary residents or anyone helping them.

For more information on this report, see the section CCB for newcomers.

Hard to find

We found that the information on Canada Post mail service disruption and the impact that this may have had on taxpayers was not easy to find on the CRA’s website. According to Canada.ca analytics, most visitors to the web page Canada Post mail service disruption – Impact on CRA services were coming from Google to reach it. This could mean that some taxpayers may not be able to easily find the information if they visited the CRA’s web pages first.

We flagged to the CRA that it might be advantageous for it to make the web page easier to find when navigating other applicable CRA web pages. However, the CRA did not agree and it did not take action.

Irrelevant

Given the enormity of the CRA’s presence on Canada.ca, it makes sense that some of the content on certain pages can be irrelevant for the reader.

For example, the Contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) web page advises callers to try calling at another time (at a different time of day or on different day of the week) if they cannot reach an agent by phone. It does not say when specifically callers need to try calling again to be able to reach an agent.

This message is irrelevant to the reader because, if they cannot get through to an agent, they will, of course, have to call again another time. Without suggesting a better time to call, the message does not tell the reader anything they do not already know.

Inaccurate

Another issue that can occur when in charge of such a large amount of online information is that some information can be inaccurate or out-of-date.

The CRA used to have mobile web applications, such as MyBenefits CRA. However, it phased out these applications, and taxpayers can now access information that used to be available through a mobile web application through a CRA online account. But even after this change, we found that several CRA web pages directed taxpayers to use these applications.

Following our enquiries in February 2024, the CRA told us that it would review the existing web pages that reference the mobile web applications for accuracy and clarity and would update the web pages accordingly by the end of September 2024. But on September 20, 2024, the CRA posted a social media post directing taxpayers to one of its mobile apps.

We also found that at least one web page was still referencing the apps.

At the beginning of October 2024, we sent a follow-up enquiry to the CRA flagging these issues. By the beginning of December, the CRA had removed references to the apps from its web pages, and it told us it was working to make sure that future promotional material would not reference them

Misleading or unclear

Sometimes, we found the CRA uses unclear or misleading language. An example is the CRA’s poster about the GST/HST holiday.

On December 12, 2024, the Government passed the legislation to enact the GST/HST break. This break ran from December 14, 2024, to February 15, 2025, and it applied to many products. The CRA made a poster (shown below) available on the GST/HST break web page. The CRA’s initiative to provide the poster after the break was introduced was good service. With little notice, it acted quickly to educate the public about this new initiative.

We flagged this issue to the CRA, but it did not make any changes because it felt that it would not be helpful for various reasons. That said, we have noticed that, in the past, providing our perspective to the CRA can influence the way it acts in the future. Therefore, we hope our suggestion, along with the other observations we made, lead the CRA to providing clearer information in the future.

Incomplete

Another situation that can cause confusion for taxpayers—and result in calls to the contact centres—is when the information that is published on Canada.ca is incomplete.

An example is the Keep getting your payments - Canada child benefit (CCB) web page. This web page contains detailed information about the possible reasons why payments may have stopped. However, there is no information about what to do to reinstate payments. The only information given is the contact information for the CRA.

This section encouraged the reader to “Find out why your payments may have changed or stopped before contacting [the CRA].” But without information about how to reinstate the payments after determining the cause of the stoppage, the taxpayer was left with no choice but to call the CRA if they did not know how to fix the situation on their own.

For example, CCB payments may stop if a taxpayer does not file their return. However, the Keep getting your payments - Canada child benefit (CCB) web page does not answer common follow-up questions taxpayers may have, such as whether their payments will resume once they file their return, whether they have to re-apply for the CCB, and whether the CCB will be paid out retroactively.

Invisible

Lastly, taxpayers can be driven to call if important information is not visible on relevant web pages.

A clear example is the Check CRA processing times tool, mentioned above, as well as the Service Standards 2024–2025 web page. Neither is visible on the CRA’s home page. If a taxpayer is looking for a processing timeline for a form or return, they will not be able to find it from the home page.

A less obvious example is the Getting benefits and credits when in an abusive or violent situation web page. Although this page provides helpful information, it was only accessible on some web pages and was also not available through the Tax credits and benefits for individuals page or the Canada child benefit (CCB) page.

We requested that the CRA make the Getting benefits and credits in an abusive or violent situation web page accessible from the latter two pages. The CRA responded that it would be happy to include a permanent link, and both pages now have one.

In summary

As noted above, we have found several areas in the CRA’s online content that can create confusion for taxpayers and may lead them to call to find clarity. Given the vast amount of information the CRA is responsible for, it is not surprising that there are some gaps. However, the CRA has a responsibility to make sure that the information it provides is clear, easy to find, and easy to understand.

We acknowledge that the CRA has already begun the immense task of reviewing its content on Canada.ca, and that, under its current budget, it may not have the ideal amount of resources for this project. We make this recommendation with the hope that it will encourage the CRA to prioritize this project even under challenging circumstances.

It is clear that the CRA is diligently working on improving accessibility. This can be seen in the annual progress reports it publishes. Updates on the CRA’s progress can be found on the Accessibility at the Canada Revenue Agency web page.

We published two systemic examinations this year. In our examinations, we looked into communications issues in different areas of the CRA as well as the costs of compliance for taxpayers. A complete description of each examination and our findings are available in the respective reports.

We launched this systemic examination on July 10, 2024, and published our report, Unintended Consequences, on March 5, 2025.

This examination looked into whether the CRA respected taxpayers’ rights during its administration of the 2023 bare trust filing requirements, specifically when it announced that it was waiving the filing requirement just a few days before the deadline to file. For this examination, we met with stakeholders, including chartered professional accountants, lawyers, and the CRA, to gain a better understanding of the effects of the CRA’s decision to waive the filing requirements.

The CRA agreed with our recommendations, one in principle, and detailed actions it will take, including reviewing how it collaborates with stakeholders and communicates updates to Canadians. Once the CRA completes its action plan, we will analyze the actions it took and provide a final update on our website.

We launched this systemic examination on March 26, 2024, and published our report, Timing Is Everything, on March 18, 2025.

This examination looked into CRA processing times as well as information sharing between Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and the CRA. We also aimed to identify any service improvements that the CRA could make to ensure all temporary residents who are eligible for the CCB receive payments without interruption.

Our examination focused on the service the CRA provides to temporary residents, specifically those who are eligible to receive the CCB in the 19^th month following their arrival to Canada. In particular, the examination looked into the CRA’s use of immigration status in determining a temporary resident’s eligibility for the CCB.

The CRA agreed with the majority of our recommendations and provided a list of detailed actions it will take, including exploring different ways in which it can remind temporary residents that their benefit payments will cease if they do not prove that they continue to meet the citizenship requirements. Once the CRA completes its action plan, we will analyze the actions it took and provide a final update on our website.

Canada has a self-assessment tax system, where taxpayers are responsible for filing a tax return and ensuring the information they report is complete and accurate. This means that taxpayers must report all of their income, including income from employment, investments, and self-employment. The onus is also on taxpayers to claim any deductions, expenses, and credits they may be entitled to, such as registered retirement savings plan contributions, union dues, child care expenses, and the disability tax credit.

The CRA administers tax programs and promotes compliance with Canada’s tax legislation and regulations. While the legal expectation is that taxpayers will meet their obligations and file their returns voluntarily (self-reporting), one way the CRA maintains the integrity of Canada’s tax system is by taking enforcement action in cases where taxpayers do not file their return and there are potential taxes owing. The enforcement action can include requesting that tax returns be filed; raising assessments based on available information under legislation such as subsection 152(7) of the Income Tax Act, subsection 299(1) of the Excise Tax Act, or subsection 192(1) of the Excise Act, 2001; making field calls; and, in some cases, pursuing prosecution through the Courts.

The CRA also administers many benefit payments and tax credits, including the GST/ HST credit, the Canada child benefit (CCB), the Canada Carbon Rebate (CCR) and certain provincial and territorial programs. The associated payments are calculated using information provided by taxpayers on their income tax and benefit returns, so if an individual does not file, they could potentially miss out on receiving hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars annually.

Over the years, the CRA has made it easier for filers and authorized representatives to access the information they need to file through digital offerings such as My Account, My Business Account and Represent a Client.

For example, taxpayers with access to My Account can do many tasks, including:

• updating their address, telephone number, marital status and direct deposit information
• applying for child benefits
• changing their return
• submitting documents
• accessing their account balance, statements, notices of assessment and reassessment as well as tax information slips

There is no question that digital services can make managing tax affairs easier and more convenient, and yet there are still people, particularly vulnerable populations, who do not file even when it is to their advantage to do so.

Since Mr. Boileau’s five-year term began in October 2020, a key focus of our Office has been on how vulnerable, hard-to-reach non-filers can be better informed about the advantages of income tax filing. Even an individual who has no income to report or is tax-exempt should file a tax return, not only to receive benefits and credits issued by the CRA, but also to get entitlements administered by other federal government departments, such as the guaranteed income supplement and the Canadian Dental Care Plan.

We have written previously about the challenges of identifying how many non-filers there are in Canada and who they are. Some academics have estimated that approximately 10 to 12% of Canadians do not file a return, leaving close to $2 billion in benefits unclaimed. It has also been estimated that nearly 20% of Canadians with an income below $20,000 do not file.

In our 2022–2023 Annual Report, the Ombudsperson made a recommendation to the Minister that the CRA find new ways to estimate and identify non-filers in Canada and their demographic make-up. The purpose of this recommendation was to enhance the CRA’s understanding of vulnerable populations to better identify them, tailor outreach and communication activities, and ultimately inform and educate them about the benefits they may be missing out on.

Our recommendation also aligned with findings of the OAG in its 2022 report, Access to Benefits for Hard-To-Reach Populations. The OAG had found that the CRA and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) had an incomplete picture of the people who were not receiving benefits that they were eligible for. The OAG made three recommendations, including one that identified the need to improve the use of government data to identify hard-to-reach populations.

The OAG’s report was also examined by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (PACP), which issued its own report with five recommendations. In Recommendation 2, PACP specifically asked the CRA, ESDC and Statistics Canada (StatCan) to

A final joint report (PDF, 0.3MB) addressing the recommendations was prepared by the CRA, ESDC and StatCan and was shared with PACP in April 2024. This report advised that they had worked collaboratively to identify and gather data on non-filers via linkage rate studies. These studies assessed the level of participation in the tax system of six segments of the population: Indigenous Peoples, youth, seniors, newcomers, housing insecure individuals and persons with disabilities. By linking taxpayer data for 2020 with Census 2021 data, the participation rates of these different populations were analyzed to provide a better understanding of filing trends by sociodemographic characteristics and geographic region.

The studies found that the overall 2020 tax-filing rate in Canada was 92.0% for the population aged 18 years and over. Broken down by the six segments of the population, the filing rates were found to be:

The linkage rate studies are published on Canada.ca.

Data from the linkage rate studies are being used to inform the CRA’s outreach and communication activities. At present, the CRA has put forth three in-depth strategies targeting youth, newcomers and Indigenous Peoples.

Its youth strategy mainly focuses on improving tax literacy, raising awareness of benefits and credits, and supporting tax filing through practical educational resources and through collaboration with key stakeholders such as teachers, youth organizations, and other government departments.

The CRA has an online course entitled “Learn about your taxes,” which we discussed in our 2023–2024 Annual Report. This course contains several modules to help youth to better understand the Canadian tax system as well as lesson plans that teachers can use in their classrooms.

The “Learn about your taxes” course offers additional resources, including exercises students can complete online to calculate a refund or balance owing and multimedia elements such as videos and infographics. Although these tools are a great start to engage youth, more content directly aimed at youth and students under 18 needs to be considered. In addition, other short-form content and interactive media to capture the attention of young audiences would help to educate middle-school youth about their taxes and the Canadian tax system.

The CRA also contracted ChatterHigh, an educational organization with direct access to high school teachers from across Canada. ChatterHigh is a gamified content engagement platform that offers the “Learn about your taxes” course to middle and high school students. The students are directed to “Learn about your taxes” web content to research and answer tax literacy questions. In 2023–2024, ChatterHigh noted a higher level of engagement from students and an increase in participating schools when compared with the previous fiscal year.

Similar to the youth strategy, the newcomer strategy also focuses on increasing tax literacy and raising awareness through partnerships with IRCC and other organizations that help newcomers to Canada. Between January and September 2024, the CRA conducted over 800 newcomer outreach events with over 22,000 participants. The CRA was able to measure the impact of these events by including QR codes on outreach presentations and providing feedback forms after an event. Results indicate increased understanding of questions relating to the GST/HST credit, disability tax credit and Canada Workers Benefit.

The Indigenous strategy encompasses a variety of initiatives aimed at tailored services, resources for Indigenous and Indigenous-serving partners and establishing collaborative relationships with Indigenous communities and organizations. This directly supports the CRA’s Indigenous Strategy 2024–2027. Indigenous Peoples in Canada have lower rates of tax filing, lower overall satisfaction with CRA services, and less trust in the organization compared to the rest of the Canadian population. Overall, the CRA has increased its engagement with Indigenous communities, conducting over 800 outreach activities aimed at Indigenous individuals, over 70 of which were held within the territories. One of their tailored services, Let us help you get your benefits, a credit and benefit short return form, resulted in over 500 completed returns in 2023–2024. The CRA is currently on track to receive more returns as a result of this initiative for 2024–2025.

Additionally, in 2019, the CRA opened Northern Service Centres in Whitehorse, YT, Yellowknife, NT, and Iqaluit, NU. The Centres offer in-person service and are co-located with Service Canada Centres, which means visitors can access a wide range of government services, year-round, in one location. The CRA also introduced a dedicated phone line for northerners, including those who are Indigenous, to meet their distinct needs. In terms of outreach, Northern Service Centre employees support individuals, businesses and community organizations by scheduling virtual and in-person visits and presentations.

It is important to note that the dedicated phone line is only for residents of Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut calling from a specific area code. Individuals who live in other areas of Canada and who do not have access to call the CRA from an 867 area code can call the CRA’s general enquiries line.

In last year’s annual report, we touched on the many initiatives the CRA had piloted or put in place to reach non-filers, help them get their benefits and credits, and make tax filing easier.

A key initiative is the CRA’s SimpleFile suite of services. These by-invitation services are free and secure and allow individuals with lower incomes and a simple tax situation to file their income tax and benefit returns by phone, digitally, or by paper. No calculations are required. By making tax filing easier, the CRA is aiming to assist those who are currently in the tax system but find filing to be challenging and to encourage those who have never filed a tax return or have a significant gap in filing to re-enter the tax system.

In 2022, the CRA conducted an experiment in British Columbia and Ontario, where more than 74,000 individuals who had never filed a tax return or had a significant gap in filing were invited to file their tax returns over the phone, digitally or by paper. In response, close to 34,000 individuals filed their returns and received almost $88 million in benefit and credit payments.

In Summer 2023, following the announcement of automatic tax-filing commitments in Budget 2023, the CRA continued with its SimpleFile experiment and sent a little over 118,000 invitation letters to residents of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. This time, close to 35,000 people filed a tax return, with about $92 million in benefit and credit entitlements.

This past summer, the CRA expanded its SimpleFile options to all provinces and territories as part of the pilot. It sent over 500,000 letters to lower-income and non-taxable individuals who either had never filed a return or had a gap in their filing history.

In mid-March, the CRA sent close to 100,000 invitation letters to a sub-set of eligible individuals as a pilot, offering SimpleFile Digital.

In June 2024, the Office of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) issued a report that discussed the results of the 2023 pilot. The PBO found that of the 35,000 people who filed following the invitation, only about 7% used the SimpleFile service to do so. Rather, 46% used a registered EFILE provider to file their return, likely for a fee, despite the free SimpleFile service being available to them. In addition, nearly 20% opted to have their tax returns completed and filed at a free community tax clinic. The results of the 2024 pilot are not available at the time of this writing.

SimpleFile can still be considered a success; it encourages those that have never filed a tax return or have a significant gap in filing to enter or re-enter the tax system. Ultimately, the CRA’s definition of success is, regardless of the filing method used, the individuals filed their tax returns and received the benefit and credit payments they were entitled to. That said, while the low uptake seems surprising, some have pointed to many low-income Canadians being afraid to open CRA correspondence as it may contain bad news, or they are suspicious that “good news” from the CRA is a scam.

In the 2024 Fall Economic Statement, the Government announced that automatic tax filing would move ahead to help the nearly 20% of Canadians with an income below $20,000 who do not file a tax return, possibly as early as the 2025 tax year. However, Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. Nevertheless, there is a possibility that some of the provisions announced in the statement could be introduced when a new parliamentary session begins.

The Government’s economic statement announced that it would develop new legislation to allow the CRA to automatically file a tax return on behalf of eligible Canadians. While the automatic tax-filing proposal was geared to lower-income individuals, the Government said it would explore the possibility of expanding it to middle class Canadians with simple tax situations in the future. The Government also committed to reviewing ways to make free online tax preparation software more available, with the rationale that individuals who have a simple tax situation may not need to pay a tax preparer or an online service to file their taxes.

The planned automatic tax-filing model was for the CRA to send a pre-filled tax return to eligible lower-income Canadians based on the available data. As the tax administrator, the CRA would already have information on file, including tax slips reporting income issued by third parties such as employers, pension administrators, financial institutions, and social assistance programs. Taxpayers would be asked to review the proposed return and modify it as necessary. They would also have the choice to opt out of the automated filing process. If they do not opt out, the tax return would then be filed on their behalf by the CRA. A challenge may be that some taxpayers, especially the most vulnerable, may still hesitate to interact with the CRA even within an automatic tax-filing context.

The Government’s economic statement pointed out that full-scale automatic tax filing is already a reality in a number of other countries. Our Office researched tax filing in over a dozen international tax jurisdictions in the last two years, and we had noted that the approach taken in Scandinavia seemed like a viable option for Canada: taxpayers with straightforward, simple tax situations get a pre-filled tax return to verify for accuracy. If no changes are needed, the return is filed on their behalf. While we are not sure if a Canadian approach would be identical to the Scandinavian model, we would welcome the move to develop automatic tax filing in our country.

Parliament was prorogued in January 2025, before the introduction of the associated legislation for the measures announced in the economic statement. However, as mentioned, the CRA already has individuals’ tax information slips on file, given the legislative requirement that third parties report amounts paid to taxpayers. An academic study in 2023 concluded that the CRA could automatically complete simple tax returns for two-thirds of individuals with income from provincial assistance programs, as this information is already on file.

Looked at more broadly, some have concluded that automated filing “for all” is not practical and the feasibility is dependent on its simplicity.^{Footnote 4} 

Given the complex nature of taxes in Canada, we agree that having a one-size-fits-all approach to automated tax filing would be challenging. That said, we strongly urge the Government to reintroduce automatic tax filing for lower income individuals with a simple tax situation and start with individuals who receive income from provincial social assistance programs.

Besides the introduction of automatic tax filing and review of the tax system itself, there are existing initiatives to make tax filing easier for many. The previously mentioned SimpleFile service as well as free tax clinics through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) are already in place for lower-income Canadians.^{Footnote 5}  More importantly, these programs are helping people, particularly the most vulnerable, get the benefits and credits they are entitled to.

The CVITP has been in place since 1971.^{Footnote 6}  Through the program, community organizations host free tax clinics where volunteers complete tax returns for people with a modest income and a simple tax situation. Many of the organizations offer in-person, drop-off, phone, virtual and hybrid support to assist vulnerable and hard-to-reach Canadians.

In May 2020, our Office published a report, Reaching Out, which contained 15 recommendations to the Minister of National Revenue to improve the CVITP. One of our recommendations was for the CRA to put in place a grants and contributions program to provide more effective support and resources directly to CVITP partner organizations. We were pleased when the CVITP Grant was subsequently introduced.

The CVITP Grant was initially a three-year pilot program that began in February 2021 to help community organizations offset the cost of hosting free tax clinics and provide funding to organizations based on the number of returns filed. The Grant’s base funding was tripled in May 2023, and in November 2023, the pilot was extended to a fourth year. The CVITP Grant has provided over $15 million to community organizations in the last four years. However, we noted that the 2024 Fall Economic Statement did not provide any new funds to extend the CVITP Grant for another year, nor did it make the Grant permanent.

In our 2023–2024 annual report, we wrote that being able to rely on the Grant from year to year would help organizations and could grow the CVITP even more. To support this, the Ombudsperson recommended to the Minister that the CRA provide a permanent Grant program and continue to provide supplemental amounts for organizations that serve Indigenous and Northern communities, as well as other underserved populations, such as rural and remote communities. The CRA agreed with our recommendation in principle and advised us that in 2025 it would continue to seek funding for the Grant, including the supplemental amounts.

No new funding for the CVITP Grant for the 2025 tax season has been announced at the time of this writing. Meanwhile, the number of host organizations continues to increase. In January 2025, the CRA informed us that there was already a 22% increase from the year before in the number of organizations registered to host tax clinics. The retention rate for host organizations who received the Grant versus those that did not is also worth noting: over 98% of recipient organizations who received grant funding from Year 3 returned to the program in Year 4, compared to 62% of non-grant recipient organizations.

Continued permanent investment in the CVITP Grant program would likely increase the number of host organizations and help retain them. Permanent funding could also encourage more local organizations in underserved areas, particularly in Northern and Indigenous communities, to consider registering to host a free tax clinic, where there currently may be none. For these reasons, we continue to strongly support the CRA in its ongoing efforts to secure permanent and meaningful funding for the CVITP Grant program to support free tax clinics with their operating costs. To this end:

In addition to the support that the CVITP Grant has provided to community organizations, Budget 2024 provided $60 million to Prosper Canada over five years, through ESDC, to expand free, community-delivered financial help services for struggling Canadians. Prosper Canada is a national charity that works to expand economic opportunity for Canadians living in poverty through program and policy innovations. Prosper expects this investment to support 25 to 35 community-based organizations across Canada that will provide free tax filing, benefit assistance and other one-on-one financial help services.^{Footnote 7} 

Many CRA programs and initiatives, including communication and learning products, advertising and outreach activities, have helped vulnerable, hard-to-reach populations file their returns and get the benefits and credits they are entitled to. The continued support of the CVITP Grant funding for tax clinics, the possible introduction of a more automatic tax-filing process for low-income individuals with a simple tax situation, as well as the work being done by Prosper Canada and community organizations will hopefully result in even more non-filers becoming annual tax filers.

It may be idealistic, but the goal should be that 100% of vulnerable non-filers become tax filers and get their entitlements. Tax filing is an important first step in helping to ease the financial vulnerability many people face. When coupled with the joint partnerships of government and the non-profit sector to provide financial-help services, the road to improving the financial literacy and well-being of low-income Canadians, particularly those from vulnerable populations, looks promising.

* Please note that amounts may not balance to total due to rounding.

** Represent internal services expenditures that relate to the support of the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson (OTO). As of April 1, 2019, internal services expenditures that relate to the support of specific programs are being reported under the applicable core responsibility in compliance with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s Guide on Recording and Reporting of Internal Services Expenditures.

*** The amount shown under related party transaction represents funding that has been transferred by the OTO to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for corporate services rendered by the CRA in the area of financial management advisory services.

As already noted in this report, one of our primary goals over the past five years has been to help the CRA improve its service to our country’s most vulnerable. Our recommendations from our previous annual report are a reflection of this goal.

We will continue to monitor the CRA’s progress on its commitment to implementing our recommendations.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA actively work to harmonize the operating hours of the services it provides so that residents across the country receive equal hours of service during the same operating hours depending on the various time zones in the country, to ensure equal availability of services to residents across the country.

The CRA agrees with this recommendation.

The CRA has recently extended the hours of operation for its main contact centres (Individual Tax, Benefit Enquiry and Business Enquiry) from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., local time, to 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., Eastern time, (Monday to Friday) and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time, to 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern time. By March 31, 2026, the CRA will review and analyse the implications of further harmonizing across the country the operating hours of its other services.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA define the eligibility criteria for the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) and the Income Tax Assistance – Volunteer Program (ITAVP) in Quebec to allow self-employed individuals with a modest income and simple expenses access to free tax clinics where such a service can be made available.

The CRA will make changes to the published eligibility criteria to include certain self-employed individuals in February 2025.

Note that the ITAVP is administered jointly by the CRA and Revenue Quebec.

The CRA agrees with this recommendation in principle.

The CRA acknowledges the success of its CVITP Grant pilot, and will continue in 2025 to seek funding for the Grant, including supplemental amounts for organizations that serve Indigenous and Northern communities, as well as other underserved populations, such as rural and remote communities.

Recommendations in this annual report are made to the Minister of National Revenue and the Chair of the Board of Management.

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