Strong

The Agency has a sound, comprehensive strategy for the delivery of its services, including clear goals, objectives, and measurement criteria that are aligned with and support the Agency's overarching strategic priorities.

Progress against the strategy is regularly assessed and reported to the Board of Management.

Client feedback results are acted upon and integrated into the business planning processes of the Agency.

Service targets are continually met and the Agency is well positioned to meet future service opportunities and challenges.

Acceptable

The Agency has a strategy for the delivery of its services.

Progress against the strategy is regularly assessed and reported to senior management.

Client feedback mechanisms exist, and the resulting data are acted upon.

The Agency generally meets service targets.

Opportunity For Improvement

Deficiencies within the management of services are identified and tentative steps are taken to address the issues.

Policies, processes, and practices are currently in development and require further integration within the Agency.

Improvements are needed to meet minimum levels of acceptable management.

Attention Required

Services are delivered on an ad hoc basis to different client groups with little or no leveraging of existing or new infrastructure and knowledge.

Different clients receive different service experiences and infrastructure may be duplicated.

Expectation (a): Service Strategy – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a service strategy that is adaptable to meet the evolving needs of taxpayers and benefit recipients.

Overview

The CRA Service Strategy sets out an interconnected agenda which articulates the Agency‑wide approach that the CRA will employ in response to the ongoing challenges and opportunities presented by the operating environment as it continues its pursuit of program excellence. Progress is measured using selected internal and external metrics, with Board‑ approved baseline measures serving as a reference for demonstrating the CRA's progress in achieving its strategic objectives.

1. Has the Agency made measurable progress against the Service Strategy's baseline data and does this progress support established corporate objectives?

Service Strategy Progress

Addressing one of the Board's next steps, the first report on the implementation of the Service Strategy was provided to the Board in September 2010. After one year of implementation, the CRA has shown solid progress in all aspects of the Service Strategy. The results of the CRA's performance against the three main service objectives outlined in the Service Strategy are as follows:

• Reflecting the commitment to set and consistently meet challenging and meaningful standards for services that are high‑volume and that affect the greatest number of taxpayers and benefit recipients, the Service Strategy met or mostly met all of the 16 targets in 2009‑2010. In addition, the CRA undertook the Service Standard Review project in 2009‑2010, which concluded that the CRA's service standards continue to be appropriate and meaningful to service users.
• In 2009‑2010, 63.8% of interactions/transactions were undertaken on a self‑service basis by individual and business taxpayers and benefit recipients, up from 61.4% in the previous year. This places the CRA firmly on track to achieve its goal of a 5% increase by 2012.
• In the Service Strategy, the CRA has committed to achieving a 5% increase in the level of satisfaction for overall service quality among individual taxpayers who had direct contact with the Agency to get information or receive a service, by March 31, 2012. In 2009‑2010, 28% of Canadians contacted the CRA to get information or use a service. Of these, 63% rated their level of satisfaction at either “satisfied” or “very satisfied”, which represents an increase of 1.6% from 2009 results.

Sources of Evidence

• 2009‑2010 Annual Report on the CRA Service Strategy

2. Have changes to the Service Strategy been made to respond to the external environment?

Service Strategy Flexibility

The CRA Service Strategy spans the three‑year period from 2009‑2010 to 2011‑2012. The Strategy was written as a durable framework to guide the evolution of the CRA's service‑related initiatives over a three‑year period. The strategy was designed to provide enough structure to foster consistent service‑related decisions across the Agency, but provide enough flexibility to let the Agency respond to new and unforeseen demands. Although developments in the external environment—such as the economic downturn—have been carefully monitored, the CRA has not identified the need to adjust the strategy within the three‑year planning period.

In 2012, the final year of the strategy, the Agency will take stock of the progress that has been realized, its operating environment, taxpayer ‑expectations, and government priorities to determine the best ways to renew the strategy for the next three years or more.

Board's Assessment and Related Comments

Expectation (b): Service Performance Measurement – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established performance targets, monitoring of performance for key service elements, and an appropriate methodology for measuring taxpayer and benefit recipient satisfaction.

Overview

External service standards publicly state the level of performance that citizens can reasonably expect from the CRA under normal circumstances. The CRA is committed to reviewing, monitoring, and reporting on its service standards in areas of importance to taxpayers and benefit recipients. In order to foster a transparent tax system, the CRA reports performance against service standards in the annual report to Parliament, as well as the CRA Web site on the Corporate Reports and Information page. The annual corporate survey measures the satisfaction of taxpayers and benefit recipients with the services provided by the CRA.

1. Does the CRA manage its services to ensure that service standards for key services are consistently met or exceeded?

Service Standard Evaluation

The CRA met or mostly met 38 out of 47 service standards in 2009‑2010. All high‑volume, high‑profile service standards have been met.

In September 2010, the Service Standard Review Final Report was presented to the Board of Management. The report's findings confirmed that the state of the CRA's service standards is very good. The CRA has a good mix of timeliness and accuracy standards for key services. Measurement processes are appropriately focused and targets are sufficiently ambitious and challenging for the program delivery areas. In terms of overall management of service standards, the CRA is a leader at both the national and international levels.

Although no major concerns were found, the review identified the following recommendations:

• Do more work to determine effective and efficient means of incorporating client perspectives in service standard development and reporting.
• Adopt a portfolio approach to the management of service standards, and add service standards to the mandate of the Director General Measurement Committee.
• Reduce the reporting burden for program areas that have service standards.
• Use best practices for Web design, and adopt a communication approach that allows taxpayers to easily navigate to key service standards.

The Agency will implement these recommendations in a phased approach.

Telephone Service Channel

Telephone enquiries represent more than 15 million interactions per year with taxpayers and serve as the main point of contact between the public and Agency representatives. To examine potential enhancements to the telephone service channel, the Taxpayer Services and Debt Management Branch (TSDMB) did an internal audit to assess whether appropriate controls are in place to achieve the goals and objectives for telephone services.

The audit concluded that the addition of an accuracy measure would help improve monitoring and reporting at the program, call centre management, and agent levels. The TSDMB has also introduced procedures regarding the collection and reporting of complaints at the call centre level to provide a more complete assessment of taxpayer satisfaction levels. The TSDMB has updated the program accountability framework to reflect these changes.

Plain Language

Recognizing that excellence in communications is fundamental to the effective delivery of CRA services, several initiatives have been introduced to enhance the Agency's communication approach. For example, a two‑day interactive course was introduced in October 2009 to teach CRA employees the principles of plain language, develop their skills for applying these principles, and raise awareness of the benefits of plain language. As of the end of January 2010, 138 sessions of the course had been given to over 1,500 employees at Headquarters and in the regions. Other activities have included significant efforts to improve the quality and clarity of documents provided to taxpayers such as the General Income Tax and Benefit Guide and its related federal and provincial forms.

Sources of Evidence

• Annual Report to Parliament 2009‑2010
• Service Standard Review Final Report 2009‑2010
• Taxpayers Services — Telephone Enquiries — Final Report — January 2010

2. Does the Agency use the results of client satisfaction measurement and service standard performance to identify service improvement goals and priorities?

Portfolio Management

A central part of the CRA's service standard life‑cycle management approach is the use of performance information and client input to review Agency processes and improve the services being offered to Canadians.

Although the Agency is meeting most of its service standards, a few standards were identified that required service improvement. Notable activities to address performance shortfalls are outlined below:

• In 2009‑2010, the Agency experienced a significant decline in performance for amending and ending deferred profit‑sharing plans within 270 days. The Agency achieved this service standard 52.1% of the time; whereas the target is 90%.The significant decline in performance was the result of an error in identifying and assigning files, leading to an increase in old inventory. The Agency has trained more employees to address this workload. Although corrective action was taken during 2009‑2010 to address this error, the Agency still has files in the inventory that did not meet the service standard. Once the aged inventory has been eliminated, the Agency should be able to meet this standard.
• For the service standard related to sending a first contact letter for disputes, the Agency's goal is to acknowledge taxpayer disputes within 30 calendar days. In 2009‑2010, the Agency achieved this service standard 50% of the time; whereas the target is 85%. Factors contributing to the decline in performance include: the increase in income tax disputes resulting from CRA's aggressive tax planning initiative and the new volume of work related to the Corporate Tax Administration for Ontario initiative. The Agency has implemented a range of activities and continues to explore options for improvement, including adding financial resources to address the current performance shortfall. For example, existing resources have been reallocated to front‑end administrative management activities, and more staff have been hired and trained to help reduce workloads. These actions should help the Agency improve its timeliness performance for the 2010‑2011 fiscal year.
• The CRA commits to processing a request to authorize or cancel a representative received during non‑peak tax time within five business days. In 2009‑2010, the Agency achieved this service standard 63% of the time; whereas the target is 90%. The Agency's performance was associated with challenges related to the timely routing of request forms. Steps are being taken to address these delays in affected regions. These steps involve process improvements, system changes, and ensuring that the requests are given the appropriate priority. These actions should allow the Agency to improve its timeliness performance by 2011‑2012.

The Service Standard Review Final Report recommended that more opportunities should be introduced for client perspectives in service standard development and reporting. The Agency will begin implementation of this recommendation in 2011‑2012.

Sources of Evidence

• Annual Report to Parliament 2009‑2010

3. What factors have influenced taxpayer and benefit recipient satisfaction with CRA Services?

Annual Corporate Survey

The mainstay of the Agency's public opinion research (POR) plan is the annual corporate survey. It allows the Agency to gauge public opinion on the Agency's performance, trust levels, the service provided, and public attitudes towards tax cheating and compliance.

According to the results of the 2010 Annual Corporate Survey, overall satisfaction with service is 63%, similar to 60% in 2007.

Satisfaction levels are higher for Canadians who report that they received what they needed when they contacted the Agency for service. For the 81% of Canadians who reported they received what they needed, their satisfaction level in 2010 was 75%.

Although satisfaction with the CRA services is undoubtedly influenced by a variety of things, factors that might have influenced service satisfaction levels include:

• They were treated fairly — 87% agreement
• Employees are knowledgeable/competent — 85% agreement
• Were able to get through to CRA staff without difficulty — 72% agreement
• CRA staff went the extra mile — 70% agreement

For the 17% of Canadians who reported they did not get what they needed, their satisfaction level in 2010 was only 9%. The Agency is often in the position of giving people bad news, and respondents to a telephone survey may not always distinguish between receiving the service they needed and getting the result they wanted.

Sources of Evidence

• CRA Annual Corporate Survey — 2010
• Taxpayer Attitudinal Segmentation Research
• CRA Web Site User Survey
• Evaluation of satisfaction with the CRA's current business outputs
• Business Enquiries Service Standard Client Satisfaction Survey

Board's Assessment and Related Comments

Expectation (c): Service Redress Mechanism – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a service redress mechanism to address service complaints in a timely fashion.

Overview

A visible complaint resolution process is an essential element in the maintenance of an accessible and transparent tax system. Service rights improve the accountability of the CRA to taxpayers by ensuring that disputes will be assessed in an impartial and professional manner. Recognizing the importance of this principle, the Agency has a comprehensive dispute resolution system that includes the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and CRA Service Complaints, as well as the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman.

To facilitate continuous improvement, performance measures to address timely resolution of service complaints inventory levels have been developed and are being monitored. Also, the Agency is developing a systemic issue identification database to identify and track trends and issues that affect service delivery.

To make sure that service‑related disputes that reach the Taxpayers' Ombudsman are handled in an efficient and effective manner, quarterly meetings are held between the Deputy Commissioner and the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman may also meet with any of the CRA's assistant commissioners or their representatives to discuss potential systemic issue reviews that are being considered or are underway. The Ombudsman presents his annual report and/or any special report to the Board of Management and meets the Board to provide updates. The Agency develops action plans that address recommendations presented by the Taxpayers' Ombudsman.

Key Questions

1. Does the Agency address the service complaints it receives in a timely manner?

Internal Performance Standards

As part of the CRA's Service Complaints Program, the Agency has established two internal performance standards that reinforce our commitment to service. These measures are outlined below:

• The Agency aims to send the taxpayer a complaint acknowledgement letter within two business days of receiving the service complaint in 90% of cases and, in 2009‑2010, this target was achieved 97.9% of the time. Every 15 days thereafter, we are committed to updating the taxpayer on the status of the complaint. In 2009‑2010, the Agency succeeded 94.5% of the time against the target of 90%.
• The Agency also aims to resolve taxpayer complaints within 30 days. In 2009‑2010, this was achieved in 92.7% of cases, compared with the target of 90%. Both internal standards continue to be met in the first half of 2010‑2011.

As of September 24, 2010, the results for the two internal performance standards were as follows:

• The two‑day acknowledgement standard was met in 97% of all cases.
• The 15‑day contact to the taxpayer was met in 92% of all cases.
• The 30‑day resolution was met in 92% of all cases.

In response to a next step identified by the Board in 2009‑2010 to make the Service Complaints Program more visible and accessible to taxpayers, the Appeals Branch has begun working with the Strategy and Integration Branch to explore the possibility of having these internal measures published externally as service standards.

Sources of Evidence

• Annual Report to Parliament 2009‑2010
• Service Redress – Board of Management December 2010
• Action plans addressing Ombudsman's recommendations

2. Has the Agency demonstrated continuous improvement in relation to service complaints?

Continuous Improvements

Since the 2008‑2009 fiscal year, when internal measures were implemented to demonstrate performance, service complaints have been responded to more efficiently. For the 2008‑2009 fiscal year, the 15‑business‑day contact was achieved 86.7% of the time, and the 30 business days to resolve the complaint was achieved 83.6% of the time. For the 2009‑2010 fiscal, the 15‑business‑day contact was achieved 96.6% of the time and the 30 business days to resolve was achieved 92.7% of the time.

Each year, the CRA uses information obtained through service complaints to review Agency processes, to find efficiencies, and to improve the service being offered to Canadians.

Future plans for the CRA's service redress include more detailed trend analysis and the proactive identification of systemic issues through employee engagement. These actions will help bring a more co‑ordinated approach to the Agency's internal findings and those of the taxpayers' ombudsman.

The CRA is continually working to integrate many of its internal redress mechanisms in order to be more proactive and to respond to issues earlier.

As part of the 2010 federal budget, the CRA committed to undertake consultations to identify ways in which transparency and accessibility can be strengthened for the various taxpayer service redress instruments. Consultations with various internal (CRA) and external stakeholder groups, such the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, and the public in general were carried out in 2010. A report and action plan have been presented to the Minister of National Revenue for consideration and approval.

Board's Assessment and Related Comments