Executive Summary

Canadians receive an impartial and responsive review of contested decisions

Our appeals program is one of the largest dispute resolution services in government. It includes the Fairness Initiative, which allows us to forgive interest and penalties in situations where clients are unable to comply with their tax obligations due to circumstances beyond their control, and the Voluntary Disclosures Program, which allows clients to correct past errors without penalty.

The CRA tries to resolve cases fairly with clients. If they are not satisfied with the CRA's determination, clients have the option of appealing to the courts--a lengthy and potentially costly option. Across the three program areas, Income Tax (the largest program), GST/HST, and CPP/EI, the majority of appeals cases were resolved before going to the courts; this demonstrates responsiveness and cost-effectiveness. Further, the courts confirmed the CRA's original pre-court determinations in more than half of the cases they reviewed.

With respect to timeliness, for income tax files, we reduced the average processing time from 135 days to 130 days. We did not, however, meet our processing targets for GST/HST and CPP/EI files. A review of these results will help us determine the next steps needed to balance timeliness with the quality of our decisions.

Date modified:

2005-10-26