Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2016-2017 to 2018-2019

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Section 1: Overview of the CRA's strategic priorities

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is dedicated to serving Canadians. We support and assist Canadians so they understand and meet their tax obligations and receive the benefits to which they are entitled. We also protect the integrity and fairness of the tax system for all Canadians by ensuring those who have not met their tax obligations do so.

The taxes collected by the CRA are critical to families, businesses and communities. When Canadians meet their tax obligations, they are helping to fund health care, post‐secondary education, social programs, infrastructure, and many other programs. In 2014‐2015, the CRA processed $469 billion in revenues and engaged with 31 million individual and corporate taxpayers. More than 92% of taxpayers file their taxes and pay the amount they owe on time.

The CRA also delivers benefits to eligible Canadians. The Agency works closely with other governments, financial institutions, and other partners to inform Canadians of the benefits available to them, and last year delivered $22 billion in benefit payments to 12 million recipients.

The CRA is working hard to improve its services to the public. The Agency offers a broad array of secure digital services and is adding to the menu every year in order to meet the needs and expectations of Canadians.

The Agency applies the highest level of integrity and security to protect the personal information of Canadians. Voluntary compliance is the bedrock of our tax system, and depends on the trust and confidence of Canadians in the confidentiality of the Agency's processes. Every year, CRA employees safely and securely process 31 million income tax returns, and the Agency continually works to ensure its systems are strong and tight controls are in place.

Note: CRA Headquarters, Connaught Building, celebrates 100 years in 2016.

The planning environment

This Plan provides information on how the CRA and its Board of Management will advance the Agency's strategic priorities over the next three years. These priorities fall under five broad themes: continual improvement in service, compliance, integrity and security, innovation, and people.

The Government of Canada has identified better service for Canadians as a key priority. The CRA aims to make sure its services meet the expectations and needs of the public.

The CRA recognizes small businesses continue to be Canada's engine for job creation – for example, the number of self‐employed individuals has grown by 64% over the past 30 years. The CRA is supporting small businesses and the self‐employed by modernizing and adapting its approaches to service and compliance to better meet their needs.

Constant advancements in information sharing and technology are resulting in unprecedented growth and complexity in global trade and investment. Many Canadian businesses are accessing international supply chains and marketing their goods and services worldwide. In this rapidly changing environment, the Agency is working closely with public and private sector partners in Canada and abroad to address the tax implications of globalization, including tax evasion and avoidance.

Canadians are global leaders in adopting digital commerce and payment services. The growth of new forms of economic activity, including electronic business-to-business transactions, crowd funding through social media, and new ways of working and earning income virtually, represent opportunities and challenges for tax administrations worldwide. Existing legislative and regulatory provisions must be reviewed, and conventional tax administration approaches and models re-examined. The CRA is actively working to address these emerging trends in order to ensure the integrity of Canada's tax system.

The Agency's ability to successfully meet the challenges of the future depends on a workforce equipped with the right skills and experience. The Agency is implementing a workforce renewal strategy to position its programs to deliver on Government of Canada priorities.

Our services

Expanding our digital services

Online filing has become the preferred choice for most individual and corporate taxpayers and benefit recipients. Last year, 82% of individuals and 86% of corporations filed electronically.

The Government of Canada has identified improved digital services for Canadians as a priority. The CRA has a history of innovation in this area, and is expanding its digital service options to improve the client experience. This year, the CRA is expanding the Auto‐fill my return service, which allows taxpayers to request the secure electronic transmission of tax information from the CRA to automatically fill in parts of their return. The service will be expanded in April 2016 to allow authorized representatives, using EFILE certified software, to auto-fill data from T3 and T5 information slips in the returns of their clients. Further innovations are also planned for the future to allow users to pre‐populate various CRA forms for T2 business returns.

Canadians are spending more time on smartphones and tablets and less time on personal computers. The CRA is responding by ensuring the Agency's digital services and content remain accessible to all devices. Mobile apps represent the newest addition to the multiple ways the Agency allows clients to access the services they need, whether it involves paying their taxes, checking the status of their RRSP limit, or simply looking for information on the CRA's web site.

Simplifying our correspondence

One of the most important ways the CRA serves Canadians is by communicating with them in ways that help them understand the information they receive from the Agency and what action they should take. The CRA sends out about 130 million pieces of correspondence to Canadians each year, including notices of assessment and benefit and credit notices. A recent evaluation by the CRA identified the need to revise its correspondence by making it clearer and easier to understand through improvements in the use of plain language, tone, content flow, and format. Beginning in early 2016, new versions of 75% of the CRA's correspondence will be launched in simple, easy- to-understand paper and electronic formats. Plans are also underway to address the remaining CRA correspondence.

Modernizing our call service

More than 23 million taxpayers and benefit recipients call the CRA every year. Over the next four years, the CRA will modernize its call centres so Canadians receive the same high standard of service they experience with leading private sector firms.

Volunteer tax clinics

The Government of Canada has committed to providing improved support to Canadians who are eligible for, but are not receiving, available benefits and credits. The CRA's Community Volunteer Income Tax Program is a key part of the Agency's efforts to address this priority. The Program helps eligible individuals who have a modest income and a simple tax situation to complete their tax return and access the benefits to which they are entitled. Through this program the Agency works every year with more than 2,000 organizations to host clinics where 16,000 volunteers prepare over 600,000 tax returns for Canadians who need help.

The CRA supports these organizations and volunteers by offering online registration, training and support for first‐time community organizations who want to host a clinic, and a variety of communication resources such as posters in many languages, and web videos.

The CRA also continues to help Canadians receive their full benefits and credits. For example, the Agency is collaborating with a number of provinces to automatically enroll families for both federal and provincial child benefits when children are registered at birth. Canadians also no longer need to apply for the GST credit because they are now automatically enrolled. Meanwhile, the CRA automatically applies the appropriate deduction and credit such as the employment and pension credit when an individual reports income that makes him or her eligible.

Looking to the future, partnerships with other government service organizations such as Employment and Social Development Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency, Shared Services Canada, as well as provincial and territorial governments will be critical to the CRA's efforts to provide seamless easy to access services to Canadians. This includes the CRA's lead role in the Government of Canada Web Renewal Initiative, which will streamline and consolidate all federal government online information and services for Canadians under one Canada.ca website.

Improving our services to small and medium enterprises

The CRA is committed to reducing the compliance burden on small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The Agency held consultations in 2014 with small and medium business owners, bookkeepers, and accountants in more than 20 cities Canada‐wide and online to learn how we could improve our services to them.

The feedback the Agency received has been instrumental in helping the Agency develop an innovative action plan of service improvements. These include improving telephone service, providing accessible tax information using plain language, minimizing the reporting burden related to filing requirements and frequency, expanding online services to meet the unique needs of small and medium businesses, and improving information sharing with federal government partners and provincial and territorial governments in order to reduce the administrative burden and improve the audit process. Equally important, the CRA is focused on helping small and medium businesses by offering information resources and programs to help them avoid errors before they become costly problems. For example, the Liaison Officer Initiative helps small and medium‐sized businesses avoid mistakes by reaching out to them at key points in the business cycle.

The Agency also regularly meets with stakeholders such as the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada), the Canadian Payroll Association, and the EFILE Association of Canada to ensure the Agency continues to focus on the changes important to small and medium businesses. Ongoing dialogue with the business community, which began with extensive consultations held in 2012, has allowed the Agency to continue to make significant and sustained improvements positively impacting businesses' bottom line, such as eliminating more than 800,000 payroll remittances for over 50,000 small businesses.

Compliance

Promoting, supporting and enforcing all aspects of compliance are cornerstones of the CRA's mission. The Agency identified over $21.9 billion of non-compliance in 2014-2015.

While most Canadians voluntarily file and pay their taxes on time, a small percentage of taxpayers fail to do so. Some make simple errors or misunderstand their obligations while others willfully avoid paying the taxes they owe. The Agency's systems and processes help to detect and correct many of these simple errors, identify taxpayers who are at higher risk of non-compliance, and track and resolve debts owed by those who have failed to comply with their obligations.

Fighting the underground economy

The CRA is increasing its efforts to combat the underground economy (UE) in which business activities are not reported to the Agency, undermining the fairness and integrity of the tax system. The Government of Canada is investing an additional $118 million over five years to expand the number of teams specializing in the UE from 20 to 35, increasing capacity to conduct audits. These teams will focus on special in-depth audits designed to identify unreported income in sectors with a higher risk of UE activity. The CRA is also continuing to educate consumers on how the UE damages Canada's economy.

Combatting international tax avoidance

Many countries are working together through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to prevent multinational corporations from exploiting the interaction between domestic and international tax rules by shifting profits away from the countries where economic activity has taken place. With Finance Canada, the CRA played a lead role in negotiations which led to the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) final recommendations, which were released in the fall of 2015 and endorsed by G-20 Leaders. Implementation of the BEPS recommendations will strengthen the integrity of the international tax system, increase its transparency and make it more difficult for companies to inappropriately minimize their taxes.

Fighting tax evasion

In addition to its efforts on tax avoidance, the CRA is continuing to detect, correct and deter tax evasion. Last year, the CRA's international and large business program detected $7.8 billion in unreported tax, an increase of more than $1 billion from the previous year and up 39% over the last four years.

The CRA will continue to target high net worth individuals participating in offshore tax evasion. The Agency has begun auditing taxpayers identified by the paid informant program. The CRA will also use more than 11 million records of International Electronic Funds Transfers it will receive on a yearly basis from banks and other financial intermediaries. The CRA will analyze funds transfers to higher risk jurisdictions and will contact taxpayers with unexplained transactions. In addition, the CRA will continue to focus on promoters of offshore tax evasion schemes, using the full range of tools and sanctions available from audits to criminal prosecution where warranted.

Lastly, the CRA will continue to work closely with international partners who are also committed to tackling tax avoidance and evasion. We will work with the OECD's Forum on Tax Administration and its new Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration program to put in place better cross-border approaches that benefit Canada and other countries.

Integrity and security

Canadians need to be able to trust the CRA to uphold all tax laws with the utmost integrity, and to safeguard personal client information.

The CRA has a strong culture of integrity with policies and procedures to protect client information and help employees make the right decisions. For example, integrity measures are included in all executive performance agreements and employees are required to annually review their obligations under CRA's Code of integrity and professional conduct. The CRA is currently implementing the new Treasury Board Secretariat Policy on Government Security to further improve security practices and keep client information safe. The CRA makes sure only employees with a specific job requirement have access to client information by maintaining records of electronic access through a national audit trail system and performing regular security checks. The Agency also uses a comprehensive security screening process to ensure employees have the right level of access at all times.

CRA employees are expected to act with integrity in everything they do. Systems are in place to report any wrongdoing employees may see when working. The Agency takes misconduct very seriously and applies consequences—up to and including termination—based on the severity of the act, and the impact on the Agency.

The security risks associated with digital services will continue to be a key consideration for the CRA. The Agency's Information technology (IT) meets or exceeds all security standards set by the Government of Canada.

Innovation

The CRA is a leader among federal government departments and agencies in providing digital services for taxpayers and benefit recipients, but the pace of change is accelerating and innovation is now an Agency-wide enterprise. Seeking new solutions, and doing things better, more efficiently, and in new ways, are key priorities for the CRA.

CRA is committed to improving service. The Agency continually researches and tests new approaches to service and applies best practices from Canada and abroad. Launched in 2015, the CRA's Accelerated Business Solutions Lab supports Agency and government priorities by using innovative approaches such as advanced data analysis and behavioural economics.

For example, the CRA has been using a "nudge" approach to influence behaviour. Nudge uses an understanding of human behaviour to guide how choices are presented to people to get a desired outcome. This can be a more cost-effective way of influencing behaviour than trying to motivate people through monetary rewards or penalties. The CRA's pilot projects have proven very effective and, over the next three years, the Agency will continue to explore and develop new and innovative approaches to improve compliance.

Over the next three years, the CRA will continue to develop and implement innovative approaches to service to keep pace with, and anticipate, client expectations. For example, the CRA is looking to make mobile apps interactive to allow us to crowd-source user feedback on services. We will also look at how to make services more efficient in such areas as payments and registration.

Our people

There are many challenges facing the CRA's workforce. More than 30% of all CRA employees and more than half of the Agency's executive cadre will be eligible to retire in five years. With advances in technology, the nature of work is shifting from transactional to knowledge-based, and the pace of change is accelerating.

To meet these challenges and ensure the organization can deliver on its priorities, the CRA will continue to recruit and develop employees who embody the CRA's core values of professionalism, integrity, collaboration and respect. We will build a workforce with the education and skills to navigate in a rapidly changing environment.

The CRA will ensure its workforce represents the Canadian population it serves and will also ensure Canadians continue to be served in both official languages. The CRA will hire talented individuals who support a respectful workplace free of harassment and discrimination. We are proud to be recognized repeatedly as one of Canada's Top Employers for Young People and will promote this honour in recruitment campaigns.

As experienced employees retire, the CRA will transfer their valuable corporate knowledge to new recruits. We will also support informal and formal learning for new and existing employees and prepare employees earlier in their careers to take on challenging leadership roles and highly specialized work. The Agency will work as well with the Canada School of Public Service to ensure employees continue to have the skills to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

More information on the CRA's people management strategies is outlined in Agency Workforce Plan.

Key indicators

The following indicators will be used to assess the CRA's performance in providing Canadians with access to timely, modern, and innovative services, while promoting and supporting compliance. Results will be published in the CRA's yearly performance report. These indicators are a subset of the CRA's overall performance measurement framework as described in the performance measurements section of the plan. The table below explains how each key indicator contributes to the CRA's overall performance story.

Key Indicators

Indicators	Why it is important
1. Percentage of individuals who paid their taxes on time	Indicating the rate of on-time payment by taxpayers strengthens trust and confidence in the CRA and most importantly, in the voluntary compliance system.
2. Dollar value of payments the CRA processed	Specifying the value of tax dollars collected demonstrates the volume of tax processing and supports transparency by reporting the value of Canadian taxpayer dollars recovered by the Agency.
3. Dollar value of benefit and credit payments to recipients	Reporting the dollar value of support provided to eligible families and individuals under provincial, territorial, and federal programs, demonstrates the volume of benefit payment processing and supports benefit program transparency.
4. Percentage of electronic filing rates for individuals; Percentage of electronic filing rate for businesses	Reporting on the percentage of electronic filing rates for individuals and businesses demonstrates the CRA's efforts and success in directing taxpayers to electronic channels. Electronic filing allows for more taxpayer control; it is faster, more convenient and secure, and reduces the compliance burden.
5. Electronic return processing timeframes for individuals; Electronic return processing timeframes for businesses	The CRA's electronic return processing timeframes demonstrate the level of service provided to taxpayers who chose to file electronically. It demonstrates the efficiency of electronic filing and the certainty it provides for taxpayers.
6. Percentage of individual taxpayers with a My Account, either directly or through their tax representative; Percentage of businesses with a My Business Account, either directly or through their tax representative	Reporting on the percentage of individual taxpayers and businesses with a My Account or My Business Account, either directly or through their representative, demonstrates the CRA's commitment to promoting innovative and modern services that are easy to access.
7. Dollar value of identified non-compliance	Identifying how much money is owed by taxpayers failing to meet their obligations promotes accountability and transparency in cases where individuals/corporations do not abide by the tax laws. This also quantifies the CRA's work to address non-compliance and protect the revenue base.
8. Tax debt as a percentage of gross revenues	Describing CRA's success in collecting payments owed on behalf of the Crown.
9. Caller accessibility	This demonstrates the ability of individuals and businesses to access timely responses to their tax enquiries on the telephone.
10. Percentage of service complaints resolved in 30 working days	This demonstrates the aim to resolve issues quickly, assist the taxpayer and improve service. This helps ensure all the mechanisms are in place to resolve issues effectively as well as foster co-operation with taxpayers.
11. Percentage change in appeals (closing) inventory	Managing the appeals inventory demonstrates CRA's commitment to preserving the integrity of the tax system while providing exceptional service to Canadians.
12. Average number of days key positions remain vacant	This provides an indication of the effectiveness of the Agency's succession planning practices.

How to read this plan

The foregoing sets out the strategic priorities the CRA will use to guide decision-making for the 2016-2019 planning period. The following chapters provide a brief description of the key aspects of the Agency's core business including the day-to-day activities necessary to achieve the CRA's ongoing operational objectives. To align with guidelines established by the Treasury Board Secretariat, this more detailed business discussion is presented under the following chapter titles:

• Taxpayer and Business Assistance
• Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing
• Reporting Compliance
• Collections, Compliance, and Verification
• Appeals
• Benefit Programs
• Internal Services

In developing these chapters, the key activities carried out by each branch of the Agency are described, as well as the planned branch initiatives, budget allocations, and performance measures in support of the Agency priorities.

This plan also includes a section to describe the CRA Board of Management and its Board committees in support of CRA priorities: Audit, Governance, Human Resources, and Resources. The Board section is followed by a section to present the CRA's organizational structure, and provides detailed performance measurements, service standards, and financial details for each of the program branches.

Budgetary Financial Resources (Dollars)
Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents)

The financial and human resource information presented in this plan includes all of those items for which the Canada Revenue Agency has received approval as of February 1, 2016. Any approvals for funding adjustments received after that date will be reflected in future documents.

Budgetary Financial Resources (Dollars)

(Dollars)	2016-17 Main Estimates	2016-17 Planned	2017-18 Planned	2018-19 Planned
Canada Revenue Agency	4,082,482,329	4,082,482,329	3,928,125,099	3,918,631,281
Taxpayers' Ombudsman	3,235,854	3,235,854	3,227,940	3,234,541
Total	4,085,718,183	4,085,718,183	3,931,353,039	3,921,865,822

Human Resources (Full-Time Equivalents)

(Full-Time Equivalents)	2016-17 Planned	2017-18 Planned	2018-19 Planned
Canada Revenue Agency	37,847	37,444	36,971
Taxpayers' Ombudsman	31	31	31
Total	37,878	37,475	37,002

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Date modified:

2016-03-07