Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2015-2016 to 2017-2018
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Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2015-2016 to 2017-2018
Taxpayer and business assistance
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) strives to make it easier and more convenient for Canadians and businesses to comply with their tax obligations. The first step in this process is to provide taxpayers with ready access to current, comprehensive information so they can properly manage their tax affairs. The CRA offers tax and benefits information through a variety of channels in order to meet the needs of taxpayers. By meeting these information requirements, the Agency supports self-service, self-assessment, and compliance.
The CRA's website strives to provide timely, accurate, and relevant information to Canadians who prefer to look online first to find the answers to their questions. The Agency invests significantly in keeping the website up to date and user friendly, and continuously improves online information and services.
The CRA recognizes the importance of responding to the diverse needs of taxpayers with a broad range of information services. The Agency call centre services answer both simple and more complex enquiries and provide taxpayer-specific information, subject to identity authentication. In addition, the CRA has moved into new communications products and channels, like social media, to respond to taxpayer expectations and to take advantage of the timeliness and flexibility of modern ways to provide information. For example, videos about taxes and benefits on the CRA's branded YouTube channel currently generate almost 40,000 views, and the Agency maintains an active Twitter presence with about 49,500 followers.
The CRA takes a proactive approach to education and outreach. This includes identifying and working with taxpayers most likely to benefit from more targeted interaction, ranging from individuals, to small- and medium-sized businesses, to Aboriginal peoples, seniors, newcomers to Canada, and youth. Agency outreach extends to working with other government departments and agencies, as well as various other groups to educate, promote, and raise awareness of programs, services, and benefits. Recently an additional $1 million was allocated to the CRA's Community Volunteer Income Tax Program to expand and strengthen the program. The funding will allow for increased promotion to other organizations, and will enable the CRA to provide enhanced training and support for first-time community organizations.
The CRA takes a proactive approach to education and outreach.
Taxpayer services—general enquiries
Canadians make more than 100 million visits to www.cra-arc.gc.ca each year to take advantage of 24-hour access to reliable, up-to-date tax information. Through the website, the Agency maintains and provides hundreds of different forms and publications, and more than 20 million copies are downloaded annually. To complement the information on the website and portals, the CRA is expanding the use of social media tools like RSS feeds and Twitter so it can better serve taxpayers who use these forms of communication.
The CRA is leading the development of the "Taxes" theme on the new federal-government-wide website. By 2016, more than 100 federal department and agency websites will be amalgamated into one site, Canada.ca. Canadians will benefit from a more user-friendly site featuring easy access to federal government information and, at the same time, they can rest assured security remains a top priority in the development of Canada.ca.
The CRA's call centres handle millions of tax enquiries every year and will continue to be a key service channel. As part of its commitment to continually improve service response time and overall service to taxpayers, the CRA is implementing the Contact Centre Transformation initiative to upgrade telephony technologies and standardize infrastructure across all CRA call centres.
Planning highlights
- The federal government's Contact Centre Transformation initiative will see the CRA's call centres move to a common technology infrastructure, with the potential for new features to be introduced beginning in 2016-2017, such as call-back options, skills-based routing, and related queuing. The initiative will also provide access to enhanced tools for reporting, monitoring, client-service quality, and workforce management.
More than 100 federal department and agency websites are being amalgamated into one site, Canada.ca.
Working with charities
Each year, Canadians donate billions of dollars to support registered charities. In 2012, registered charities issued $14 billion in official donation receipts. The CRA registers charities, Canadian amateur athletic associations, and national arts service organizations, and monitors their compliance with requirements for charitable status.
Each year the Agency processes over 83,000 registered charity information returns and audits hundreds of charities. The CRA takes an education-first approach with charities, providing them with all the information and the tools they need to voluntarily comply. When an organization isn't meeting the legislative requirements to maintain charitable status, the CRA will provide the organization with further information and opportunities to amend the situation. Fewer than one percent of charities have their registered charity status revoked in any given year.
Planning highlight
- The CRA will develop new electronic services, specifically the online filing of Form T3010, Registered Charity Information Return, and Form T2050, Application to Register a Charity under the Income Tax Act. These services will make it easier for charities to comply and will reduce red tape.
Working with charities
There are more than 86,000 registered charities in Canada, each playing an important role in our society, providing valuable services to Canadians – including to the most vulnerable. In recognition of the important work done by charities, the Government of Canada provides assistance through the tax system. Registration as a charity under the Act provides organizations with unique tax privileges – an exemption from income tax, the ability to issue official donation receipts for gifts and to receive gifts from other registered charities. Registration also comes with the obligation to follow longstanding rules for charities contained in the Income Tax Act.
As the federal regulator for charities, the CRA has a mandate to protect the integrity of the tax system, and the charitable sector as a whole, by ensuring that registered charities understand and follow these rules. The CRA promotes voluntary compliance by charities through a balanced program of education, client service, and responsible enforcement.
The CRA takes an education-first approach to compliance, providing charities with all the information and the tools they need to voluntarily comply with the Act. We do this through the provision of quality information, such as through our client services program and public outreach, and through the development of educational resources, such as webinars and videos, as well as policies and guidance on our website.
Audits are also an important element of our efforts. Through audits, the CRA is able to ensure that registered charities understand the requirements for registration and are using their resources, in particular donations from Canadians, in accordance with the Act. The CRA audits approximately one percent, or 800 to 900, of registered charities across Canada each year.
The overwhelming majority of audited charities meet the requirements of the Act and only a very small proportion of the audits result in serious consequences like sanctions or revocation. Working closely with the CRA, the vast majority of charities selected for audit are able to correct any identified non-compliance concerns and continue delivering their charitable programs for the benefit of all Canadians.
Responding to complex queries
Taxpayers and tax professionals with more complex information needs have access to CRA expertise through a number of channels, including technical publications on the website and by requesting rulings or interpretations. The CRA continuously develops new publications to provide taxpayers with the most current and relevant technical information. Equally importantly, we make sure our publications are up-to-date and reflect the latest developments in legislation and jurisprudence. Stakeholders such as the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada have offered to partner with the CRA, bringing their tax expertise to bear on our efforts to make sure everyone has access to high-quality, current information.
Each year the Agency responds to over 100,000 verbal and written enquiries for rulings or interpretations concerning an act administered by the CRA. By explaining how legislation applies to specific situations, the Agency offers taxpayers early certainty. In addition, the CRA is responsible for making sure Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions and employment insurance (EI) premiums are deducted, remitted, and reported as required by legislation, and responds to about 40,000 requests for CPP/EI rulings annually.
Planning highlights
- By 2017, the CRA will develop a rulings e-service to allow clients to send requests for rulings and interpretations and receive responses electronically.
The CRA oversees deferred-income and savings plans with approximately $2 trillion in assets.
Overseeing registered plans
Registered plans are tax-effective savings and retirement tools available to help Canadians in planning and securing income for the future. The CRA oversees deferred-income and savings plans with about $2 trillion in combined assets. The Agency registers and monitors the plans, approves the deductibility of employer contributions to defined-benefit pension plans, and provides information on registered plans on the CRA website and in response to enquiries.
Planning highlight
- The CRA will update the information technology systems supporting registered plans by 2016. This initiative is consistent with the CRA's overarching IT sustainability and modernization program to make sure all key applications function effectively.
Budgetary financial information
| 2015-2016 Main Estimates |
2015-2016 planned spendingFootnote 1 | 2016-2017 planned spendingFootnote 1 | 2017-2018 planned spendingFootnote 1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Program | ||||
| Taxpayer and business assistance | 280,181,661 | 280,181,661 | 281,567,318 | 277,088,894 |
| Sub-programs | ||||
| Taxpayer services—enquiries and information products | - | 150,091,815 | 148,701,983 | 148,534,210 |
| Policy, rulings, and interpretations | - | 79,316,031 | 79,640,665 | 77,343,422 |
| Registered plans | - | 16,311,026 | 17,078,731 | 16,583,179 |
| Charities | - | 29,830,283 | 31,261,406 | 29,885,269 |
Human resources
| 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Program | |||
| Taxpayer and business assistance | 3,780 | 3,697 | 3,692 |
| Sub-programs | |||
| Taxpayer services—enquiries and information products | 2,112 | 2,103 | 2,102 |
| Policy, rulings, and interpretations | 1,115 | 1,045 | 1,045 |
| Registered plans | 175 | 174 | 174 |
| Charities | 337 | 334 | 330 |
Performance measurements
The CRA performance measurements for taxpayer and business assistance are set out on page 93. These measurements indicate the Agency:
- Provides timely and accurate services to taxpayers, businesses, charities, and registered plan administrators.
- Meets its service commitments to Canadians 100% of the time. The CRA has 47 service standards. For the activities described in this chapter, 19 service standards apply.
- Provides a high level of accessibility for telephone enquiries, especially during peak tax season.
Footnotes
- Footnote 1
-
Planned spending refers to those amounts for which a Treasury Board submission approval has been received by no later than February 1, 2015. This cut–off date differs from the Main Estimates process. While in any given year planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditure levels presented in the Main Estimates, this year it does not.
- Date modified:
- 2015-04-01