Increasing My Business Account Enrolment: Discovering the Barriers to Business’s Use of CRA’s Secure Online Services

Prepared for the:
Canada Revenue Agency
June, 2014
Contract Number: 46558-144266/001/CY
Contract Award Date: 2013-03-27
Project Cost: $ $59,344.28 (HST included)
POR Number: 064-12

Prepared by:
Environics Research Group

For further information:

Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
4th Floor – 555 MacKenzie Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1A 0L5
Media.relations@cra-arc.gc.ca

Executive summary

Environics Research Group is pleased to present the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with this report on findings from a series of focus groups on My Business Account (MyBA). This report was prepared by Environics, who was contracted by the Canada Revenue Agency (contract number 46558-144266/001/CY, awarded 2013-03-27).

Background and objectives

The MyBA secure area of the CRA web site allows Canadian businesses to conduct many required interactions, specific to their business, online, such as filing tax returns, obtaining tax information, paying taxes, reviewing their communications from CRA, and so on. However, approximately 40 percent of businesses have not registered to use the services within MyBA, either directly by the business owner, or by an authorized employee or tax professional. Rather, these businesses continue to deal with the CRA through traditional means (telephone, regular mail and fax). The CRA wants to increase usage of MyBA by businesses, to align with the Government’s and CRA’s Red Tape Reduction initiative, the CRA’s Secure Online Services Strategy, and the Agency’s Vision 2020 “Drive to Electronic.” It is also consistent with the Government’s desire to improve service delivery to Canadian business while reducing the overall compliance burden.

To this end, the CRA wished to conduct primary research with businesses NOT currently enrolled to use MyBA, to solicit their attitudes and opinions about conducting tax affairs with the CRA online versus traditional channels. The main purpose of this research was for the CRA to discover the specific barriers to businesses in enrolling to use the services contained in MyBA. More specifically, this research will further assist the CRA in gaining a better understanding of the target population’s characteristics and behaviours when it comes to their choice of methods for dealing with the Agency.

The following are the specific areas where additional information was desired of this target audience (i.e. businesses NOT enrolled to use My Business Account):

• Size (e.g. number of employees or gross income), industry group and other characteristics;
• Who conducts their tax affairs with the CRA: themselves (as owner), an employee or a third party tax representative/professional, and why?;
• Current methods and communications channels used to meet the business’ tax responsibilities with the Agency;
• Why they conduct their tax affairs with the CRA in the ways they do, and why they are currently not engaging more with the CRA online;
• Level of awareness of the type and degree of information and secure online services the CRA currently offers and is planning to offer on its website specifically for businesses; and
• What types of information, services and standards of service (i.e. availability, timeliness, incentive) would entice them to conduct their tax affairs with the CRA online instead of by phone or in writing.

Methodology

Quantitative phase

A quantitative telephone survey was conducted first, to obtain quantifiable data on the target audience businesses. The survey and data collection was conducted by Environics Research Group and is based on 475 telephone interviews conducted from October 24 to November 12, 2013. The interviews were conducted with senior representatives of businesses that have not yet signed up to the My Business Account service, but that have one of the following accounts with CRA: corporate income tax; payroll or source deductions; or goods and services tax or harmonized sales tax.

The survey data are unweighted, as there are no definitive statistics on this unregistered business population. The margin of error for a sample of 475 is +/- 4.5 percentage points, in 19 out of 20 samples (margin of error is greater for subgroups). A more detailed descrip­tion of the methodology is presented at the back of the report (see Appendix A), along with a copy of the questionnaire (see Appendix D).

Qualitative phase

Qualitative research was conducted following the survey, to delve more deeply into issues raised in the quantitative research. A series of four focus groups were conducted in Toronto (on March 25th, 2014) and Montreal (on April 9th, 2014). The groups lasted approximately one hour and 30 minutes, and consisted of between six (6) and nine (9) participants (out of 9 people recruited for each group).

In each location, one focus group was conducted with individuals who are the overall decision makers for their business (such as the owner, director, CEO) who also have some hands-on involvement in the business’ dealings with the CRA. The second group consisted of employees who have been authorized by the business’ owner to handle the business’ tax-related transactions with the CRA. Participants were also asked if they use online banking or purchase products and services online, either for personal or work-related purposes. Insofar as they do one of these activities, they qualified for the session.

Similar to the telephone survey, participants for the discussion groups were recruited from a list of businesses, provided by the CRA, that had not yet signed up to use the MyBA service.

A more detailed descrip­tion of the methodology is presented at the back of the report (see Appendix A), along with a copy of the recruitment screener (see Appendix B) and discussion guide (see Appendix C).

Statement of limitations: Qualitative research provides insight into the range of opinions held within a population, rather than the weights of the opinions held, as would be measured in a quantitative study. The results of this type of research should be viewed as indicative rather than projectable.

Cost of research and use of findings

The cost of this research was $59,344.28 (HST included). The information gathered in this data collection will allow the CRA to customize its online offerings to meet the needs of the currently unengaged audience; identify the extent to which this target group may wish to interact with the CRA electronically; and identify the enablers and obstacles to the uptake of e-services. Additionally, the research results will be used to design and target marketing of the CRA website’s information and online services to the correct non-user business audiences, which will lead to easier access and an increased take up of online services.

Overview of Qualitative Findings

Current Interaction with the CRA

• For nearly all participants, interactions with the CRA are limited to “typical” fiscal transactions, such as monthly source deduction payments, annual corporate taxes and T4/T5 submissions, and quarterly GST/HST instalments. The financial transactions are almost always made electronically, through their financial institution’s website.
• When it comes to their organization’s fiscal responsibilities or obligations, participants rarely visit the CRA website, if at all. They indicated they were overwhelmed with the amount of information and often have difficulty finding the information they are looking for. When they do, it tends to be for general information or to download updated versions of forms.
• Some participants continue to prefer paper-based transactions with the CRA (e.g. submitting paper forms, cheque-based payments, etc.). For them, there is value in having a paper trail since it represents concrete, physical proof that a payment has been made. It is also something tangible to show accountants or the CRA in the event of an audit.

Awareness of My Business Account

• Awareness of MyBA was mixed although awareness may have been somewhat inflated since some could be confusing My Business Account with a similar type of online service offered by provincial departments or they might be confusing it with the CRA’s NETFILE or EFILE online services to file tax returns.
• When asked to describe the CRA’s My Business Account service to the best of their abilities, the level of detail among those aware of the service was relatively shallow, many only knowing the service by name. At best, they could only recall being able to access a few areas of their tax and business information such as confirmations of payments and account balances.
• Those less aware of the service were asked to imagine what the service might offer. Most participants suspected the service could be used to check account balances, make payments or as a single-point of access to all their information with the CRA – a sort of one-stop-shop.
• The few who seemed to recognize MyBA recalled receiving inserts with some of their regular statements from the CRA, some were informed of the service when they called the CRA and a few remembered receiving a letter in the mail with a password and instructions on how to register online. Without a business registering online first, the CRA does not send a password and instructions, so this awareness was perhaps confused with another service outside of the CRA’s responsibility.
• Participants were shown two samples of brochures used by the CRA to promote My Business Account (the “Cat and Fish” and “Snail” post cards that refer to “Some things aren’t secure/fast…”). Few seemed to recall the exact brochures presented in the sessions and few actually recognized that it was from the CRA. They did bring up how they were more likely to read something that looked official from the CRA, for example with the CRA logo and in a brown Government of Canada envelope rather than a flashy post card that blends with other advertising they immediately recycle.

Reasons for Not Registering with My Business Account

• When specifically prompted to explain why their business had not registered to use MyBA, three key barriers were identified:
  • Some participants were simply not aware that the service even existed;
  • Some participants did not see the value in registering (these individuals did not see the incremental value that MyBA can offer over and above what they are already doing online through their financial institutions, a process with which they are quite pleased and one that is part of their regular business processes); and
  • A few were discouraged from registering because they were turned off by a registration process considered onerous.
• It should be noted that these observations were made based on their previous knowledge of the service, that is before any information about MyBA was presented in the groups.

Reactions to My Business Account Services and Information

• To get feedback on MyBA based on a common understanding of what information and services it contains, participants were provided an abbreviated list of nine things they can do with the CRA’s My Business Account such as viewing their CRA mail online and asking a question and getting a response online. The list of features was enlightening to most participants but it only increased the appeal of the service in a modest way. One of the more compelling aspects was that a service like My Business Account could help them have a greater control over their interactions with the CRA, especially in terms of problem solving or addressing information requests from CRA. They specifically liked the concept that they could see what the CRA could see.
• The appeal of using My Business Account’s online enquiries service to ask a specific question and receive a response online would depend on how quickly a response was received and on the accuracy and legal legitimacy of the response. The online approach would need to outperform the call centre approach for it to have any value. It was suggested on multiple occasions that a live “chat” via the enquiries service would be useful or even expected. There was overall consensus with other participants in the groups when this suggestion was made.

How Participants Would Encourage Registration and Usage

• Participants were asked to work in teams to develop a list of things CRA could do to encourage more businesses to register for My Business Account. Participants focused on:
  • Strategies to increase awareness such as greater use of CRA touchpoints (e.g. brochure inserts, call centre representatives explaining benefits, recorded messages when on hold, etc.) and more personalized awareness campaigns such as calling businesses directly or holding in-person information sessions.
  • Strategies to increase the appeal of My Business Account such as providing more compelling reasons to register beyond making payments and checking account balances, showing how it can be tailored to small businesses, explaining that registration is easy (and deliver on this) and allowing businesses to “test drive” My Business Account without registering, to see how it could help their business.
  • Strategies for getting through to the company’s decision-maker including giving accountants and other representatives the arguments and resources to convince business owners and operators.
• If they were to consider watching a My Business Account video tutorial on the CRA website, participants agreed it would need to be short. Many agreed that there could be a short summary video that captures the service’s main features and separate, more in-depth videos (similar to chapters in a book) for those interested in more detail or in a more specific topic. Most agreed that videos should be no more than 10 minutes long although tutorials on very specific topics should be as short as 1-2 minutes.

Political neutrality statement and contact information

I hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Environics Research Group that the deliverables fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically, the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions, political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the performance of a political party or its leader.

Derek Leebosh
Vice President, Public Affairs
Environics Research Group
Derek.Leebosh@environics.ca
(416) 969-2817

Supplier name: Environics Research Group
PWGSC contract number: 46558-144266/001/CY
Contract award date: 2013-03-27
For more information, contact Canada Revenue Agency at por-rop@cra-arc.gc.ca

Date modified:

2014-10-30