Anticipated Result: Clients receive timely, accessible, reliable, and fair service that is responsive to their needs

The Canadian tax system is based on self-assessment and voluntary compliance. We believe that our clients are more likely to participate when the system is accessible and the service is responsive. Indeed, Canadians have expressed a very strong desire to be able to choose how and when they interact with government, including secure, reliable, and accessible self-serve electronic options. For example, we received over 900,000 visits to our My Account feature during 2003-2004. This feature is the first of many steps that will provide Canadians with an online view of their tax information and account history, such as current and prior year tax returns as well as RRSP, Home Buyers' Plan and Lifelong Learning Plan calculations and limits.

To further enhance the CCRA's Internet site in 2003-2004 to make self-service the preferred option for Canadians, we began to provide on-line access to policy documents for charities and organizations applying for charitable status. We have also posted a list of topics on our Web site to which new businesses can refer and we provided a Web link for tax professionals.

An important part of our processing strategy is to continue to increase electronic filing rates and to expand electronic filing options. Not only are we able to process electronic returns in about half the time it takes to process paper returns, the use of electronic returns also avoids many of the costs and the potential for errors associated with paper processing, resulting in increased efficiency and reliability.

The national T1 electronic filing participation rate increased from 43% last year to 48% in 2003-2004 (calculated on assessed returns). This was close to our 50% national target. A survey of international electronic service delivery ranked us second only to Singapore (see Figure 1) for electronic filing of returns.

Figure 1 Take-up of personal income tax filing online (2002 tax year)

Source: eGovernment Leadership: High Performance, Maximum Value; Accenture; May 2004.

We also implemented Corporation Internet Filing this past year, providing a secure and convenient solution for the electronic filing of T2 corporate income tax returns. During 2003-2004, we received 24,598 T2 returns over the Internet—which represents just under two percent coverage of the eligible corporate population—exceeding our target of 20,000.

Although a variety of electronic services exist for some businesses, including GST/HST NETFILE and T4 (payroll) Internet filing, awareness of these services needs to improve among Canadian businesses. We are developing a strategy to target the marketing of our electronic filing and payment options.

Our processing strategy also includes the electronic payment of taxes. This reduces operational costs, provides clients with a convenient payment method, and improves government cash flow. In 2003-2004, the volume of electronic payments increased by almost 20% from the prior year. Debit cards can now be used to pay taxes in all 56 CCRA locations.

Accessibility rates for our general and business telephone enquiries services continue to be on target (Figure 2). These targets were adjusted in 2003-2004 due to the reallocation of resources to other CCRA priorities. Continued improvements to our telephone services—such as a national 1-800 network and maximizing resources to address client demand—have helped us consistently maintain accessibility rates at or above 90% during peak season over the past three years.

While this means that most callers were able to reach our telephone services, it does not mean that they were successful on their first attempt. Once callers were in the queue to speak to an agent, 77% of general enquiries and 74% of business enquiries telephone calls were answered within two minutes. This is an improvement over last year's performance of 74% and 70% respectively. Our internal target 1 is to answer 80% of calls within two minutes.

Figure 2 Telephone Caller Accessibility

In line with our strategy to reduce the need for clients to call, we have extensively revised the CCRA Web site architecture and content presentation, to make the Web the preferred channel of Canadians. There was a 73% increase over 2002-2003 in tax-related Web hits (see Figure 3) and a 50% increase over last year in hits of our online question-and-answer tree, known as the Interactive Information System.

Figure 3 Tax-Related Web Hits

Using sampling, our quality assurance program for evaluating the reliability of our telephone service shows that agent accuracy remains strong. Ongoing feedback from the program is provided to agents in addition to ‘just-in-time' training. This, combined with agent access to continually updated information, ensures quality of service. As well, our numerous tax-related publications (forms, slips, and guides) undergo rigorous and highly structured, time-sensitive annual review processes to ensure that all legislative changes are accurately incorporated in an easy-to-understand format and in time to meet our critical delivery targets. Further, the quality of the CCRA Web site is continually improved through direct feedback and suggestions from clients and other sources.

To support the government-wide Service Improvement Initiative, encourage voluntary compliance, and contribute to the fair and equitable treatment of Canadians, Tax Services programs continue to develop and publish external client service standards to help manage public expectations and improve client satisfaction. Although the CCRA has well-established internal targets for our telephone services and, since 2003-2004, a service standard for our Charities telephone service, we did not introduce telephone service standards for our general and business telephone enquiries this past year as planned. We expect to put these in place next year.

Overall, our existing performance against service standards improved by 10 percentage points with 69% of Tax Services service standards met or mostly met. We did not achieve our targets for providing statements of arrears and interim payments to corporations on time due to technical challenges. Schedule E provides a detailed listing of our performance against all of our service standards.

We met seven of our nine most important service standards related to high-impact and/or high-volume activities (e.g., processing individual tax, corporate tax, and GST/HST returns).

Our 2003 Annual Survey 2 showed that the overall rating of Tax Services remained in the 70% range. As in the previous year, 88% of taxpayers were either somewhat or very satisfied with the time it took to receive their Notice of Assessment or refund.

In October 2002, we introduced an external client satisfaction measurement program related to our advanced income tax rulings and technical interpretations services. Feedback during the period from October 2002 to April 2004 shows that 94% of our clients are satisfied with these CCRA services.

In the 2004 federal budget, the Government of Canada committed $12 million annually to improve the regulation of charities. As required by the Income Tax Act, the CCRA regulates registered charities to help them operate in ways that will give donors greater confidence when supporting charitable causes they believe in. We have developed a comprehensive plan to modernize our regulatory approach to charities and to improve the environment within which charities operate. The first milestone was achieved in March 2004 with the creation of the Charities Advisory Committee, which will provide key information and feedback on a number of topics including the reform of charities regulations.

Turning to the fairness of our services, we strive to collect the correct amount of tax—neither too much nor too little. As part of our beneficial client adjustment initiative, we refunded over $21 million to some 61,000 individuals who understated credits related to tax deductions at source or Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions by comparing an individual's return to third party information. While much of the day-to-day administration of fairness in the CCRA is conducted within Tax Services' various programs, the overall responsibility for co-ordination of the Fairness Initiative falls under the Appeals business line.

Provinces, territories, and other government departments rely on the CCRA as a key service provider. Using our tax administration infrastructure, we work to eliminate duplication and reduce the overall cost of government for Canadians.

Several of our partnerships with public sector clients have been in place for many years. For example, the CCRA administers the Refund Set-Off Program under which outstanding debts owed by individuals to our federal, provincial, and territorial partners are offset against income tax refunds, GST/HST credit payments, and provincial tax credits. This past year, all the provinces involved increased their level of activity in the program. A total of $118.3 million dollars was offset through this program in 2003-2004.

To reduce the administrative burden on businesses and simplify their interactions with different levels of government, in 2003-2004, the CCRA entered into new Business Number registration partnerships with the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba, and New Brunswick.

In 2003-2004 we signed a new arrangement with the Workers' Compensation Board of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, regarding the issuance and honouring of the CCRA's requirements to pay. We also established a new partnership with the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board of Ontario and, on April 1, 2004, finalized a Memorandum of Understanding with the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador. The purpose of these arrangements is to strengthen compliance and identify registration gaps.

The CCRA continues to tailor its information and services to the needs of all of its clients, be they individuals, businesses, or those organizations that are not-for-profit or in the public sector. We strive to improve accessibility to our programs and services to increase public confidence in the integrity of Canada's tax system. We believe that this is what fosters compliance and strengthens Canada's economic and social well being.

1 Our internal target includes calls that are answered by an agent or are abandoned by the client within two minutes. Abandoned calls, including those abandoned after two minutes, made up 8% of the total of all general and business enquiries telephone calls that were successful in entering the queue.

2 See footnote on page 1-53 for further information regarding the CCRA's Annual Survey.

Date modified:

2004-10-28