Schedule C – Overall Results against Service Standards
Service standards in the Canada Revenue Agency support program administration and facilitate Canadians' compliance with tax and benefits legislation, thereby contributing to expected outcomes. Service standards are the cornerstone of our performance management system and represent our public commitment to the level of service that taxpayers and benefit recipients can reasonably expect to encounter.
Management sets targets for achieving each service standard based on operational realities and infrastructure, historical performance, degree of complexity of the work, and Canadians' expectations. Standards for front-end processing, for example, generally have shorter timeframes and/or higher targets, while those requiring greater review and analysis have lengthier time standards and/or lower targets. Results that drop significantly below targets signals to managers that remedial action is necessary.
Meeting our service standards targets demonstrates that the organization is efficient and responsive to the needs of taxpayers and benefit recipients. This helps establish credibility in our operations and contributes to increasing the level of confidence that Canadians can place in government.
As well, service standards help to establish the necessary conditions for compliance. For example, the CRA's ability to provide information or seek clarification of taxpayer or benefit recipient information in a timely, predictable way alleviates frustration that can lead to error, or delay decisions. It has long been our belief that by facilitating compliance, we enhance it.
Service standards are not static. In 2005-2006, a number of changes occurred. We successfully implemented and met a new service standard (Statistical Services to External Stakeholders) in response to the new User Fee Act . We revised the target downward to 90% for counter service wait-time, as set out in our 2005-2006 to 2007-2008 Corporate Business Plan. As subsequently approved through this plan, this is the last year we will report on this standard. Our strategy is to offer in-person service by appointment and, in general, migrate taxpayers and benefit recipients to self-serve options which are more timely, accessible, and fair. Also new this year, we are able to report on processing T1013 requests or Taxpayer Representative Identification System (TRIS) for both peak and non-peak tax periods. The need for a service standard for T1 publications continues to be assessed.
Of note, a concerted effort to improve the timely issuance of Statements of Arrears (SOA) and Statement of Interim Payments (SIP) has resulted in significant improvement to results. SOAs were issued to corporations on time in 95% of cases, while SIPs were provided on time in 99% of cases. This compares with 63% and 49% respectively in 2004-2005.
Our registered plans area is undertaking a significant re-engineering initiative to improve compliance monitoring in this industry. In the future, greater emphasis will be placed on audits of registered plans to identify non-compliance, while analysis at the registration stage of a plan will be performed based on risk criteria. Implementing new processes and infrastructure will affect existing service standards and our ability to report on performance. This year, results are available for six months only for the standards applying to deemed and complete plan registration, and to amendments and terminations.
As a management tool, service standards can effectively highlight the need for corrective action when performance does not meet the target. The service standard for advance income tax rulings indicates that the average time to deliver advance rulings has increased to 84 days, in excess of the 60 day average target, while resources have decreased. Less timely rulings may lead taxpayers to undertake questionable transactions, likely resulting in reduced compliance and more costly audit and appeals activities (see ).
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1. Problem Resolution Program
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Acknowledged within two working days.
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2. Problem Resolution Program
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Resolution/client contact within 15 working days
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3. Counter-service wait time
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20 minutes (except during peak periods)
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4. General telephone enquiries – respond to calls in queue
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5. Business telephone enquiries – respond to calls in queue
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6. Advance income tax rulings to taxpayers
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Within an average of 60 days
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Target: within an average of 60 days
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7. Income tax technical interpretations
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Within an average of 90 days
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Target: within an average of 90 days
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8. Applications to register pension plans
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Deemed registration within 60 days
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9. Applications to register pension plans
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Complete review in 180 days
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10. Amendments to registered pension plans
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11. Termination of registered pension plans
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12. Retirement savings plans (applications to register, amend, or terminate)
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13. Retirement income funds (applications to register, amend, or terminate)
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14. Education savings plans (applications to register, amend, or terminate)
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15. Actuarial valuation reports
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16. Deferred income plans – Response to telephone enquiries
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17. Deferred income plans – Response to written enquiries
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18. Deferred Profit Sharing Plans – registration
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19. Deferred Profit Sharing Plans –amendments or termination
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20. Charities – respond to telephone enquiries in queue
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Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing
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21. Processing T1 individual income tax returns (paper)
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22. Processing T1 individual income tax returns (EFILE, TELEFILE, NETFILE)
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23. Processing T3 trust returns
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24. Responding to client requested adjustments (T1)
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25. Processing visitor GST/HST rebate applications
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26. Processing T2 corporation income tax returns
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27. Processing GST/HST returns
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28. SR&ED Refundable claims
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29. SR&ED Non-refundable claims
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30. SR&ED Claimant-requested adjustments to refundable claims
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31. SR&ED Claimant- requested adjustments to non-refundable claims
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32. Providing Statements of Arrears (SOA) for corporations
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Mailed by the end of the month
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33. Providing Statements of Interim Payments (SIP) to corporations on a monthly basis
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Mailed by the 18 th of the month
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Filing and Remittance Compliance
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34. Processing fairness requests related to accounts receivable and trust accounts programs
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35. Video and film tax credits – Refundable claims – unaudited
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36. Video and film tax credits – Refundable claims – audited
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37. 30-day first contact letter for objections, disputes, and appeals
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38. Processing CCTB applications
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End of second month after month in which application is received
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39. Account maintenance/Responding to written enquiries
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End of second month after month in which enquiry is received
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40. Validation and control. Results of review
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41. Taxpayer Representative Identification System (TRIS)
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Processing of T1013s within five days of receipt during non-peak periods
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42. Taxpayer Representative Identification System (TRIS)
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Processing of T1013s within 20 days during peak periods
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43. Statistical Services to External Stake holders
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Respond to client or taxpayer requests for statistical data within an average of 30 calendar days
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Target within an average of 30 calendar days
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Target mostly met (at least 95%)
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New or modified service standard
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Explanatory notes with respect to
Data Quality (DQ) or significant
Variance (V) in performance:
Where service standards are expressed in terms of a number of days, they refer to calendar days.
Results are rounded to the nearest decimal point.
Standards 1 and 2: DQ: The results represent TSO only, not Tax Centres, and are based on a sampling.
Standard 3: DQ: The standard does not apply during peak periods. Peak periods are from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm daily, and from 8:15 am to 5:00 pm, March 1 to April 30.
V: Target lowered for 2005-2006 per our
2006-2007 to 2008-2009 Corporate Business Plan.
Standards 8, 9, 10 and 11: DQ: Results represent the first six months of the fiscal. As a result of re-engineering and changes (referenced in our
2006-2007 to 2008-2009 Corporate Business Plan) to the service standards, monitoring and reporting on these standards was discontinued in November 2006.
Standard 16: DQ: In 2005-2006 information is based on a manual count of employee reports.
Standard 24: DQ: The standard applies to straightforward client-requested adjustments, that is, those that pertain to workflows that do not involve waiting for substantive information in order to be resolved.
Standard 27: DQ: The systems used to determine timeliness of processing of GST/HST returns also include a small volume (about 10%) of other GST workload. Overall, 98.29% of the total workload was done within the 21 days in 2005-2006; thus, we believe that the results are representative.
Standard 34:
DQ: Results are based on an estimate.
Standard 37: DQ: This standard excludes, for example, those resolved within 30 days, invalid objections, and group objections dealing with a common issue such as pay equity disputes.
Standards 38, 39, 40, 41 and 42: DQ: In 2005-2006 information was based on a sampling.
Standard 43: DQ: This is a new service standard and therefore historical data are not applicable.
The following tables provide an update on new standards and targets, deletions, and service standards under development in 2006-2007. During the past year, approval was given through our
2006-2007 to 2008-2009 Corporate Business Plan to introduce changes to several registered pension plan standards resulting from re-engineering activities. It was also agreed to delete the counter service standard in 2006-2007, in view of changes to the provision of in-person service, and to delete the Statement of Arrears (SOA) standard due to sustainable development concerns that the SOA was often a duplication of information sent to the taxpayer.
New Service Standards and Targets for 2006-2007
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Respond to written enquiries for GST/HST rulings and interpretations within 45 working days of receipt of request
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Assessment of Returns & Payment Processing
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Assess Excise Tax, Excise Duty and Air Travellers Security Charge returns within 90 days of receipt of a complete return
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Deletions of Existing Service Standards for 2006-2007
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Counter service wait times
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Assessment of Returns & Payment Processing
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Statement of Arrears (SOA)
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Service Standards under Development in 2006-2007
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Responding to correspondence related to general and business enquiries
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Charities – review and respond to applications for charitable registration within four months of receipt of complete application
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Registered plans (applications, amendments and terminations) and Actuarial Reports - Business re-engineering will lead to revised service standards.
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Respond to telephone enquiries related to GST/HST rulings and interpretations
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Respond to Canada Child Tax Benefit (CCTB) telephone calls in queue
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Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing
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‘Change My Return' via ‘My Account'
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Part XIII Withholding telephone enquiries
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With respect to enquiries relating to either CCTB or GST/HST credit accounts, we will accurately process your information and, if necessary, issue a payment, notice, or letter.
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With respect to processing CCTB applications we will accurately process your information and, if necessary, issue a payment, notice, or letter.
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Unaudited
- Date modified:
- 2006-11-23
