CRA Annual Report to Parliament 2005-2006

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Schedule B – Other Items of Interest

Government-wide Reporting

To meet the Government's commitment to accountability to Parliament that was expressed in Results for Canadians, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) requires that we report progress and achievements on certain management policies and on specific major and government-wide initiatives. The initiatives and policies identified below are addressed throughout this annual report. More detailed information for some of these initiatives is available at the Web links listed in Schedule D.

Government On-Line

The Government On-Line (GOL) initiative is the Government of Canada's commitment to make government more accessible to all Canadians, improve online service, and build trust and confidence in doing business online. The Public Works and Government Services Canada report Government On-Line 2006 stated that the CRA “has played a crucial role within the federal government in delivering e-services”.

The report cited NetFile as a “well-known example of simplified interaction with government” noting “First-time users are particularly appreciative of the service as it is quick and requires no special skills or knowledge”. The report also stated that the CRA's ‘My Account' has been cloned for ‘My Government Account' which allows Canadians “to create a personalized list of services dealing with multiple government programs” and that the CRA Business Number has been adopted by other federal departments and six provinces enabling almost five million businesses to “register electronically for multiple programs in multiple jurisdictions at one time”.

In 2005-2006, the CRA continued to contribute to government-wide initiatives to improve service for Canadians. In its report entitled Leadership in Customer Service: Building the Trust, the consulting firm Accenture noted that the CRA is participating in the National Routing Service pilot project which will advance the Canadian government's Secure Channel initiative, a common secure infrastructure to enable service integration.

Sustainable Development

In 2005-2006 we continued implementation of our third Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) through four goals: environmental excellence in operations, sustainable service delivery, employee engagement, and modern management of sustainable development. During this time, a weighted performance score of 89% was achieved. With one year remaining in the current SDS, we are on track to meet our commitments. Our fourth SDS is scheduled to be tabled in the House of Commons in December 2006. More information regarding sustainable development is available at the Web links listed in Schedule D.

Travel Policy

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Travel Policy, dated October 1, 2002, contains provisions for efficient and economical travel procedures. The following table outlines the major policy provision differences between the TBS and CRA travel policies. Overall, the CRA has not incurred additional costs with the implementation of its own Travel Policy.

Key policy differences – TBS and CRA

Policy provision
TBS travel directive
CRA travel policy
Meal and incidental allowances
  • Incidental expense allowance is $17.30 per day
  • Incidental expense allowance is $17.50 per day
  • Reduced to 75% at day 31 when occupying corporate, apartment hotel, or private accommodation
  • Reduced to 75% as of day 61 and to 50% as of day 121 in travel status (if period known at the outset, reduced rate to be applied from day 1)
Reimbursement of actual cost of a meal (up to the applicable meal allowance) within the headquarters area
  • When reimbursement of meal expenses is clearly reasonable and justifiable as a direct result of an employee's duties
  • At the manager's discretion, in situations specified in the Policy, and in certain exceptional circumstances
Reimbursement for distances driven within the headquarters Area
  • All distances necessarily driven on government business travel within the headquarters via the most practical, direct, and safe road routes
  • Return distance between the workplace and the point of call
Reimbursement of Interac fees on personal access cards
  • No provision
  • For withdrawals of cash as reasonably required on the trip

User Fees Act

It is the CRA's policy to charge fees for services that provide identifiable recipients with direct benefits. The only exception to this is when overriding public policy or the program objectives would be compromised. Section (7) of the User Fees Act requires that every Minister table a report on user fees in effect to Parliament annually, on or before December 31st following the end of each fiscal year.

A summary of the CRA's three user fees under this Act as well as brief descriptions of the program, the type of fee, the authority to charge the fee, and the consultation, analysis and client redress mechanism that are currently in place for each initiative can be found in the financial tables of this report (see Table 7).

Response to Parliamentary Committees, Audits, and Evaluations for 2005-2006

The following tables outline the CRA's responses to reports by Parliamentary committees and by the Auditor General in 2005-2006. They also list the internal and external audits and evaluations of the CRA that were published in the past year.


Responses to Parliamentary committee reports
There were no Parliamentary committee reports requiring a response from the CRA in 2005-2006

The links included below are to the Auditor General reports, which include the CRA's response.


Responses to Auditor General reports
Canada Revenue Agency-Verifying Income Tax Returns of Individuals and Trusts
http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/20051103ce.html
Support to Cultural Industries
http://www.oag-bvg.gc.ca/domino/reports.nsf/html/20051105ce.html


External audits
There were no external audits of the CRA conducted in 2005-2006

Internal audits and evaluations
2004-2005 Selected Fiscal Year-End Procedures Audit
Management Group Performance Management, Audit of
Business Continuity Planning Audit
Memorandum of Understanding on Tax Information Exchange with the ministère du Revenu du Québec
Charities Directorate
Contract Payment Reporting System Program Evaluation Study
National Audit of Business Travel and Hospitality Expenses
Corporate Administration System Utilization Audit
Regional Audit of Acquisition Card
CPP/EI Base Year (2001-2002) Administrative Costs
Regional Audit of Assessment and Client Services Tax Centre Program Performance Management
GST/HST Redesign Project
GST/HST Visitor and Domestic Rebates Programs, Audit of
Scientific Research & Experimental Development Audit
Implementation of the Appeals Timeliness Action Plan

For further information on audits and evaluations please visit:
www.cra-arc.gc.ca/agency/internal/menu-e.html under the heading ‘2005-2006'.

Unaudited

Date modified:
2006-11-23