CRA Annual Report to Parliament 2005-2006
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Our 2005-2006 Results
Introduction
No other public organization touches the lives of more Canadians on a daily basis than the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA exercises its mandate within a framework of laws enacted by Parliament as well as by provincial and territorial legislatures.
Under its mandate, the CRA has two strategic outcomes:
- taxpayers meet their obligations and Canada's revenue base is protected; and
- eligible families and individuals receive timely and correct benefit payments, contributing to the integrity of Canada's income security system.
Through the administration of legislation and various tax collection agreements, the CRA collects taxes annually on behalf of Canada and its provincial and territorial governments (except Quebec) and certain First Nations. In addition, pursuant to agreements with provinces, territories, and other government departments, the CRA delivers income-based benefits, credits, and other services that contribute directly to the economic and social well-being of Canadians.
Our priorities
The CRA Act requires us to report annually against the objectives set out in our Corporate Business Plan. The strategic priorities set out each year in our plan are developed in response to identified risks, and are established to maintain and—over time—improve the results we achieve related to our strategic outcomes.
The CRA's Corporate Business Plan 2005-2006 to 2007-2008 established four strategic priorities:
Tax Integrity
We implemented measures in 2005-2006 to increase our understanding of non-compliance generally and to address the identified risks of aggressive tax planning, the underground economy, and Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) fraud. As well, we reallocated resources from lower priority areas to ensure that these higher risk areas were addressed. Further details concerning these three high risk areas can be found beginning on in our Reporting Compliance program activity section.
In addition, our assessment of key risks identified multiple compliance issues with respect to inventories of non-filers, employer non-compliance, and past performance in the resolution of tax debt. Our achievements during 2005-2006 related to this high risk area are detailed in our Filing and Remittance Compliance program activity discussion ( ).
Service to Canadians
The service agenda is a top priority of the Government of Canada; quality service is the foundation for enabling taxpayers to meet their obligations, thereby fostering compliance. Since enhancing service is critical to the achievement of our tax compliance and benefit delivery objectives, building on our service track record is a key priority for us.
In furtherance of our strategy to increase taxpayer self-service, we continued during 2005-2006 to change our approach to in-person service by providing agent-assisted service by appointment for taxpayers with complex enquiries and for those not able to use the available self-serve services. This approach will ensure that the right agent is available to meet taxpayer needs. In addition, our agents are taking an active role in educating and assisting taxpayers who come to our offices about how to use our electronic services, which complement our telephone and in-person enquiry services.
Details concerning our achievements during 2005-2006 related to this priority are discussed in our Client Assistance ( ) and Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing program activity discussions ( ).
Business Sustainability
This priority was established to ensure that we have the capacity to continue to deliver tax services and benefit programs activities at the level of service expected by taxpayers and benefit recipients. Since the management of the issues related to this priority span the entire CRA, details on our achievements related to this priority in 2005-2006 are included in our discussion of Corporate Services on .
Trust and Integrity
This priority is of special importance to the CRA due to the extent of our public dealings; our collection, accounting, and disbursement of public funds; and the critical place of trust and fairness in supporting the integrity of Canada's tax and social systems. Like Business Sustainability above, we manage issues related to this priority at the corporate level in the CRA. Page in our Corporate Services section provides an overview of our achievements during 2005-2006 in this regard.
Reporting Our Results
This CRA Annual Report to Parliament 2005-2006 provides a comprehensive reporting of our results through the use of identified measures. Our assessment of these results is presented in a structured way in accordance with our Strategic Planning and Reporting Framework, illustrated on . This framework is based on the Management, Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) established by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat on April 1, 2005.
This framework organizes our discussions into two levels. First, we use our strategic outcome measures to structure the discussion of the results we achieved related to our two strategic outcomes. Links are also made to the corresponding program activity section, where more detail is provided on key results achieved at the program activity level in support of our strategic outcomes.
Second, beginning on , we structure our discussion by program activity—reporting against each of our expected results—and rate our achievements against the key indicators and targets set out in our Corporate Business Plan 2005-2006 to 2007-2008. We also reinforce the linkage between each program activity and the strategic outcome to which it contributes.
In addition to focusing on our strategic outcomes and supporting program activities, to complete the picture we are introducing a new section devoted to CRA governance ( ). This section highlights the achievements of our Board of Management and explains how these achievements have had an impact on our results.
Strategic Planning and Reporting Framework
Rating our results
We use qualitative and quantitative indicators to determine the results achieved toward our strategic outcomes and expected results. Survey results, statistical sampling, and operational data inform our assessments. Although we have made progress in developing robust indicators for each of our strategic outcome measures and expected results, we need to make some of them more concrete and measurable. In these cases, we use the best information we have to make our assessment.
We also rate our strategic results and those of our program activities in terms of whether the targets identified in our Corporate Business Plan 2005-2006 to 2007-2008 were met, mostly met, or not met. The table below, Results Ratings, defines these terms. Where additional indicators are needed to fully report on our strategic measures or our expected results, they have been included.
Our targets identify the percentage or degree of expected attainment of a performance level. Targets are established by CRA management through analysis of operational realities and infrastructure, historical performance, the complexity of the work involved, and the expectations of Canadians. Generally speaking, where targets are numeric in nature, they are listed beside each indicator; otherwise (e.g., where we are monitoring a trend), we have considered targets to be not applicable (N/A). Where results for an indicator are not available for 2005-2006, the indicator has been marked as such (‘n/a') and explained with a footnote.
Our data quality ratings are provided to indicate whether our assessments are based on good, reasonable, or weak data (see definitions below). Generally, our data collection systems provide reliable information.
Unaudited
- Date modified:
- 2006-11-23