Anticipated Results

Clear and concrete statement of results to be achieved within the time frame of parliamentary and departmental planning and reporting (1-3 years), against which actual results can be compared.

Assisted Compliance

Directed assistance is provided to help clients to accurately and completely fulfil their obligations and receive their entitlements under tax, trade, and border laws. Our range of assisted compliance activities includes: information reporting; review and verification programs; audits and examination relating to tax, trade, or border regulations, policies and procedures.

Balanced Scorecard (BSC)

A strategic measurement-based management system, originated by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, that assists organizations in achieving a clear alignment between business activities and strategic goals, and provides a management tool to measure, monitor and manage performance.

Cancellation

The reversal of a penalty or interest that has already been assessed.

Corporate Business Plan

Within approved expenditure levels, the Corporate Business Plan sets out an organization's major challenges, directions and objectives for the planning period (that is, the Estimates year plus two future years as a minimum); the strategies to achieve those objectives; and the performance measures to be used to measure progress and to meet its performance goals.

Disputes

General term to designate disputes, objections, and appeals to the Minister.

Dispute resolution process

Clients who believe they have been treated unfairly are entitled to file a dispute. The Appeals business line reviews the dispute, discusses the issues with the client, and ultimately notifies the client of its decision. Clients who are not satisfied with the result of the review may appeal to the courts—or for trade administration issues, to the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT).

Effectiveness

The extent to which an organization or program is meeting its planned results.

Efficiency

The extent to which an organization or program is producing its planned outputs in relation to the expenditure of resources.

Eligible

Meets the requirements of the legislation in order to receive a benefit.

Enforcement

We maintain an enforcement capacity to take corrective action, where appropriate, to address cases of wilful or unintentional non-compliance. We carry out investigations to ensure compliance with income tax, GST, and customs duties. At the international level, we undertake a variety of enforcement activities to address non-compliance and verify that Canada's tax treaties are being properly applied.

Entitled

Qualifies for a specific payment for a specific period.

Entitlement

The amount due to an entitled person for a specific period.

Facilities Management

The ongoing day-to-day management of the Agency's Real Property portfolio.

Facilitation

Assistance provided to clients to help them understand their entitlements and obligations and facilitate voluntary compliance with tax, trade, and border laws. We offer a wide range of client-focused services such as: counter service; forms and publications; telephone and electronic assistance; rulings and interpretations; and information seminars.

Fairness Provisions

Legislation introduced in the early 1990s that provides relief (e.g., forgiveness of interest and penalties) to clients in certain circumstances beyond their control (such as hardship).

Fiscal Impact

Total fiscal impact includes federal and provincial tax (participating provinces only), federal tax refund offset or reduced, interest and penalties, and present value of future tax assessable.

Goal

A general statement of desired result to be achieved over a specified period of time. The term goal is roughly equivalent to strategic outcome.

Governance

Governance is a comprehensive term used to denote the institutions and processes by which people are governed. It is the exercise of authority, control, management and power of government. More specifically, it refers to the operations of legislatures, cabinets and public services in Canada and the manner in which they interact with the public, including the style and substance of consultation, the management of the public service and the capacity of the private sector to participate effectively in the development and implementation of public policy.

Indicator

Indicators are further detailed quantitative and qualitative descriptors of outcomes. They tell you what the organization is doing. There are often many indicators for each performance measure. Indicators relate directly to the performance measure, and indirectly to the objective and outcome. Often indicators are described as “the number of...”.

Intermediate Outcome

Intermediate outcomes are the external consequences that contribute to meeting our strategic outcomes. Individually or in aggregate, the results of the intermediate outcomes provide a measure of our success in achieving our strategic outcomes. The CCRA has identified six intermediate outcomes:

• Canadians voluntarily pay their fair share of taxes and the tax base, one of Canada's most significant assets, is protected

• Canadians receive their rightful share of entitlements

• Canadians' health, safety, security, and business interests are protected, and Canada's competitiveness is facilitated through our borders

• Canadians receive an impartial and timely review of contested decisions through our redress system

• Provinces/territories and other government departments rely on the CCRA as a key service provider

• Performance of our business services and operations are maximized through modern and innovative management approaches

Mission

An organization's mission statement provides the social, political and economic justification for its existence. The mission statement may be very short, and should reflect the organization's identity, its purpose, its desired response to key stakeholders, its philosophy and core values, and its ethical standards.

Modified Cash

When payables at year-end are also included in that year's expenditures.

Operating Environment

Refers generally to the conditions, trends and developments existent in the external environment that are significant to the operations or directions of an organization. The operating environment is frequently subdivided into economic, technological, political and social domains.

Output

The actual activities, products or services produced by carrying out a program or initiative. To be differentiated from outcomes, which are considered the effects or ramifications of outputs; e.g., an audit may generate additional tax revenue as an output and result in increased taxpayer compliance as an outcome.

Performance

How well an organization, program, etc. is achieving its planned results measured against anticipated results. In results-based management performance is measured and assessed, reported, and used as a basis for management decision-making.

Performance Drivers

Performance drivers are the external or internal factors or events that we believe have an important impact on the CCRA's ability to meet its success criteria.

Performance Measure

A performance measure describes how well the organization is doing in terms of meeting its goals and objectives. The common types of measures include: effectiveness measures—extent to which the organization is achieving the outcome (doing the right thing); efficiency measures—the proposed ratio of relevant outputs to relevant inputs (doing things right); client service—the degree to which the needs and expectations of the recipients of the service are satisfied with the level and quality of service received; and timeliness—the extent to which the work is done on time.

Performance Reporting

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision-making, serves to meet accountability requirements, and provides a basis for citizen engagement and a performance dialogue with parliamentarians.

Remittance Compliance

The voluntary and timely payment of all taxes that have been reported.

Revenues Credited to the Vote

These revenues include amounts which are recoverable through Human Resources Development Canada from the Canada Pension Plan account for administering Part I of the Canada Pension Plan and from the Employment Insurance account for administering Parts IV and VII of the Employment Insurance Act.

Risk

The uncertainty that surrounds future events and outcomes. It is the expression of the likelihood and impact of an event with the potential to influence the achievement of an organization's objectives.

Risk Management

A systematic approach to setting the best course of action under uncertainty by identifying, assessing, understanding, acting on, and communicating risk issues.

Service Standards

Public commitments of standards of service that a client, customer or stakeholder can normally expect, including such elements as descriptions of the service to be provided, service pledges or principles, delivery targets, and complaint and redress mechanisms.

Strategic Outcomes

The long-term and enduring benefits to Canadians that can be derived quite naturally from a department's vision and efforts. These outcomes describe the difference a department is mandated to make. In most cases, these outcomes will require the combined resources and sustained effort of many partners over a long period of time.

The CCRA has identified two strategic outcomes:

That Canadians comply with tax, trade, and border legislation

That the CCRA is seen as a leading-edge service organization

Tax Base (protecting the)

The tax base is a government's greatest revenue-generating asset. It represents the broad range of goods, services, income, etc. that is subject to a tax. Protecting the tax base means the mix of activities undertaken by a tax administration to minimize real or potential leakage through reviews, audits, and investigations, among others.

Tax on Income (TONI)

Under the previous “tax-on-tax” system, individual income taxes in all provinces and territories (except for Quebec, which separately administers its own individual income tax) were computed as a percentage of the basic federal tax amount. Under TONI, they have the option to define their own tax rate schedules to be applied directly to taxable income. In addition, they may add supplements to existing non-refundable tax credits such as personal or spousal amounts, and introduce new non-refundable tax credits.

Tax Year

The annual period for which taxes are being reported; for most individuals this would be the preceding calendar year.

Values

The guiding principles that define an organization's corporate culture and reflect its distinct character. These values may involve the kind of product or service to be produced/delivered, the kind of organization that it wants to be, or a managerial philosophy. Examples of values are professionalism, respect, co-operation, integrity, creative thinking, and dependability.

Vision

The vision clarifies what the organization should look like and how it should behave as it fulfils its mission. A vision statement emphasizes purpose, behaviour, performance criteria, decision rules, and standards. Other characteristics include being relatively future oriented; reflecting high ideals and challenging ambitions; and capturing the organization's uniqueness and distinctive competence.

Voluntary Disclosures Program

Provides clients with the opportunity to correct any past errors or omissions, and to report without penalty to the CCRA on their tax, duty, and tariff obligations.

Waiver

When penalties or interest have not yet been charged, a determination is made not to charge the amount, either at the client's request or on the CCRA's own initiative.

Write-offs

Uncollectible taxes that are deleted from active inventory of accounts receivable after the Agency has taken all reasonable collection action and exhausted all possible means of collection.