Conclusion by the Commissioner

This was a year of achievements for the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Once again, we met our strategic outcome of promoting compliance with Canada's tax laws and effective delivery of benefits and credit programs and other services such as the Canada Child Tax Benefit and the Disability Tax Credit Program.

Since the creation of this Agency, we have focused on service transformation as a priority to ensure our client services are more accessible, efficient, productive, and timely. The CCRA is a now a leader in the use of technology in government. In fact, our contribution to Government initiatives, such as Government On-line to improve delivery of electronic services, played a significant role in making Canada a world leader in e-government. We are very proud of this accomplishment.

Canadians are responding to our new electronic service options: nearly 50% of personal income tax returns were submitted electronically in 2003-2004. In fact, based on the latest comparable international statistics, Canada at 43% for electronic filing in 2002 is the leader among OECD countries in this regard, followed by the United States at 40% and Australia at 34%. This modern way of processing has resulted in substantial efficiencies—it takes half the time to process electronic returns compared to paper returns—and has helped us provide faster and better service to Canadians.

Over the past year, our growing business expertise and the adaptability of our automated systems enabled us to provide new and expanded programs on behalf of other federal departments, provinces, territories, and First Nations. Through this service provider role, we help to eliminate duplication and reduce the overall cost of providing essential services to Canadians. Ultimately, this results in lower costs and less reporting burden for individuals and businesses.

Overall, Canadians' confidence in the integrity of the tax administration remains high. However, we recognize the need to continuously improve our systems. Through our strategy of business process improvements and reallocation of resources, we are addressing emerging risks to compliance with tax legislation, thus ensuring that Canadians pay their required taxes in a fair and equitable manner.

None of these successes would be possible without our knowledgeable and skilled employees. Their collective knowledge will continue to enable us to provide innovative and efficient services to individuals and businesses on behalf of the Government of Canada, other levels of government, and First Nation communities.

Alan Nymark
Commissioner

Date modified:

2004-10-28