Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2017-2018 to 2019-2020

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A message from the Commissioner

The Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2017-2018 to 2019-2020 is my first as the new Commissioner of the CRA. It comes at a time when the CRA must find measurable ways to contribute to many of the government's key objectives, while also increasing our responsiveness to the needs of Canadians in an age driven by technology and social media.

I want to ensure that the CRA is a world-class tax and benefits administration and that we achieve excellence in service, fairness, compliance, and integrity. Two factors that are key to our success are our ongoing active engagement with stakeholders, and our commitment to maintaining the integrity of the Agency and its employees. With its strategic investments in human and technical resources, I believe the CRA is well-positioned to fulfil its core responsibilities on behalf of Canadians. This Plan touches on many of the important initiatives the Agency will pursue over the next three years as CRA employees strive to implement Government objectives and realize the Agency's strategic priorities.

To meet the changing service expectations of Canadians in a digital environment, the CRA needs to be innovative and agile. We must be able to measure our progress and performance, make adjustments as necessary, and demonstrate how we have achieved tangible results. We must ensure that we communicate clearly with Canadians regarding their tax obligations and our administrative practices and procedures. In this regard, we will be implementing an action plan in response to the 2016 Fall Report of the Office of the Auditor General on the CRA's administration of income tax objections. We also need to ensure our internal operations are coherent and efficient. To this end, the CRA is working on developing greater internal communication and co-ordination between branches by sharing knowledge, best practices, and innovative solutions.

Ensuring that taxpayers comply with Canada's tax laws is important for fairness and for inspiring trust and confidence in our administration, and remains a priority for the Agency. I believe this Plan clearly discusses how we will support compliance. The Government of Canada is committed to addressing tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, and recent significant investments are allowing us to recruit additional auditors and specialists, increase our verification activities, and improve the quality of our investigative work targeting non-compliance risks domestically and internationally. Of particular note is the work we are doing to combat the abusive use by Canadians of offshore tax jurisdictions to conceal their financial assets. This Plan signals that current and future investments in financial and human resources in this area will improve our analysis of relevant information and lead to the identification of more individuals and businesses engaging in abusive or illegal offshore transactions.

In fulfilling the Agency's core responsibility of delivering benefits, the CRA continues to innovate and to adapt to the demands of our digital age. Readers of this Plan will learn how the CRA's sophisticated technology environment is ensuring that benefit payments are delivered to citizens efficiently and accurately. One service highlighted in this Plan is MyBenefits CRA, a mobile application for individual benefit recipients, which allows users a fast, easy, and secure way to verify upcoming benefit payments. Future improvements to this service will allow individuals to quickly update personal details, including phone number and address, sign up for direct deposit, and see the breakdown of provincial/territorial benefits.

This Plan outlines how the CRA intends to deliver on its priorities. The Agency's capacity to respond adeptly to its business needs and the environment in which it operates should ensure that it will continue to meet its core responsibilities and serve Canadians well in the years to come, protecting Canada's revenue base and supporting the economic and social well-being of Canadians.

Original signed

Bob Hamilton
Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency

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Date modified:

2017-03-10