Prepared for the:
Public Affairs Branch
Canada Revenue Agency
FINAL REPORT
September 2007
POR# 040-07
Contract #46558-088576

Prepared by:
Environics Research Group

Le rapport complet en français sera fourni sur demande.

To request a full copy of this report, please contact Library and Archives Canada at:
613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 or www.collectionscanada.ca

Media Enquiries:
Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
4th Floor 555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa ON K1A 0L5
media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Executive Summary

Research purpose and objectives

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is responsible for administering taxation laws for the Government of Canada. The Agency undertakes research and other initiatives on a regular basis, to measure taxpayers' experiences and satisfaction with the services and programs that the CRA provides. Since 2000, the CRA has been conducting an annual survey with national representative samples of Canadians, to assess attitudes towards the Agency and satisfaction with specific program aspects. In 2005, the CRA redesigned the annual survey to focus on corporate-wide issues, and established a new baseline for measuring the Agency's performance over the next five-year period (2005-2009). The current survey is the third wave of this tracking study.

In March 2007, the CRA experienced a computer problem during routine maintenance that resulted in a brief service interruption, which affected electronic filing of returns as well as a number of other on-line services. Proactive communications efforts were undertaken and service was restored promptly; however, the Agency wanted to assess how this interruption and its timing may have affected taxpayers' preparation and filing experiences and whether this occurrence had an impact on their opinions about, and confidence in, the CRA. As a result, the dynamic section of the 2007 survey pertained to this service interruption.

Methodology

The Agency's 2007 Annual Corporate Survey was conducted by the Environics Research Group. The 2007 survey consisted of telephone interviews conducted June 5 to 29, 2007, with 4,004 Canadians. The questionnaire was largely the same as the one used in 2006, with three new questions added to the core survey, and a new section of "dynamic" questions focusing on awareness of and impact of the March service interruption. The sample was stratified to provide meaningful results in each of the 10 provinces. A national sample of this size will provide results accurate to within plus or minus 1.5 percentage points in 19 out of 20 samples (larger margins of error apply for subgroups of this population). A more detailed description of the methodology used to conduct this survey is presented at the back of this report, along with a copy of the questionnaire (see Appendix).

Key findings

The 2007 Annual Corporate Survey reveals that the Canada Revenue Agency has been successful over the past year in maintaining a positive public image. There has been a small but statistically significant increase of three percentage points over the past year in the proportion who rate the Agency's overall performance as excellent or good, following a similar increase in 2006.

Complete agreement with statements about CRA values and with service aspects is also generally consistent from 2006. However, satisfaction with the most recent service experience, in terms of overall satisfaction and timeliness of service, has marginally decreased over the past year. As in past years, negative attitudes continue to be linked to general perceptions about the Agency, about the federal government as a whole and about taxation in general, and not from any specific service-related difficulties encountered.

Apart from the broader government and tax-related context in which the Agency operates, ratings of the CRA's overall performance continue to be most strongly influenced by the extent to which it is seen as adhering to its corporate values, especially in operating in an efficient manner and in treating taxpayers fairly.

Prompted awareness of the service interruption in March is quite high, but such awareness does appear to have only a marginal influence on specific opinions about the CRA. Overall performance ratings for the Agency do not appear to be affected by awareness of the interruption.