Section 3 – Introduction to the Canada Revenue Agency

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Partnerships and stakeholders

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) maintains relationship at various levels with a wide range of government, not-for-profit, and private sector organizations. The CRA's relationship with Federal, Provincial, and Territorial governments is presented in Section 3a, Agency Overview.

The CRA engages key stakeholder groups to help advance the CRA's goals and priorities and to extend the Agency's influence and expertise. Stakeholder engagement refers to our interaction with specific clients, representatives of clients, and other organizations and groups. It excludes outreach efforts and regular communication efforts the Agency conducts to support delivery or compliance.

CRA partnerships

Federal

The most important relationship the Agency has within the federal sphere is with the Department of Finance Canada, the organization directly responsible for developing the Government of Canada's tax policy and legislation. The Agency administers tax policy and provides the Department with input on proposed changes to tax legislation. The CRA also maintains working relationships with other central agencies, like Treasury Board Secretariat and the Privy Council Office, and follows their lead on matters such as Treasury Board submissions, collective agreement negotiations, external communications, and public opinion research.

The CRA supports the administration of the Canada Pension Plan, Employment Insurance, and Old Age Security programs with Employment and Social Development Canada. The Agency also provides statistical services and tax data to Statistics Canada, as well as the Department of Finance Canada and provincial and territorial ministries of finance. The Agency works cooperatively with Shared Services Canada, the organization responsible for the delivery of email services, data centre, and telecommunications services to 43 federal departments and agencies, including the CRA. ^{Footnote 1}

International

On the international level, the CRA collaborates with other tax jurisdictions to exchange knowledge and best practices, ensure effective and non-duplicative approaches to tax administration across borders, and to actively support the strengthening of tax administrations in developing countries.

The CRA has also developed a close working relationship with fellow tax administrators from the Internal Revenue Service (United States), Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (United Kingdom), Australian Taxation Office, and New Zealand's Inland Revenue.

The CRA participates in the activities of several international organizations, including:

• Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD);
• Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information;
• United Nations Tax Committee;
• Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations; and
• Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators.

Within the context of the OECD and the related Forum on Tax Administration (FTA), the CRA Commissioner is an active member of the FTA Bureau and a sponsor of the Large Business Network. The Agency is also an active member of several operational groups such as the Joint International Tax Shelter Information Center and the Seven Country Tax Haven Forum.

Industry associations

The CRA collaborates with a number of national industry associations on specific initiatives, programs, or projects, for example: Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada); Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB); Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA); Canadian Taxpayers Federation; and Association de planification fiscale et financière.

When working with industry associations, individual taxpayer information is never discussed.

• In 2014, the CRA and the CPA Canada signed a framework agreement to enhance collaboration, enhance CRA services, and ensure a well-running tax system in Canada. While the CRA collaborates with the CPA, it does not discuss individual taxpayer information. The agreement created seven committees in the following areas: service, compliance, tax administration, scientific research and experimental development, commodity tax, red tape reduction, and training.
• The CRA will meet twice a year with CFIB through the Small Business Consultation Forum. This joint forum between the CRA and CFIB was launched in 2015 and will provide the Agency with valuable feedback from the small and medium businesses community.
• The Minister's Underground Economy Advisory Committee launched in November 2014, comprised of key industry sectors and academia, provides the Minister of National Revenue and the CRA with an industry perspective and feedback on the government's ongoing efforts to combat the underground economy.
• For many years, the CRA worked with the Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA) to help promote the Get it in Writing! campaign – which provides consumers with tools and information to discourage and reduce their participation in the underground economy. The CRA is investing $745,000 over three years to support this campaign.

The CRA consults regularly with other industry associations that represent the interests of organizations involved in tax administration. Through various channels, the Agency works to reduce irritants to small businesses (e.g. red tape) and to find innovative solutions to the underground economy.

Community organizations

The CRA administers a Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, which allows partner organizations to host tax preparation sessions for low income taxpayers and those with simple tax situations. The CRA offers training, tax software, and telephone support to the volunteers. Over the past year, volunteers assisted in the completion of over 600,000 returns.

CRA's key stakeholders

CRA's activities to engage stakeholders serve to gather business intelligence and where possible enlist support for Agency efforts to deliver its mandate. Working closely with stakeholders allows the Agency to develop a more genuine understanding of their perspective on key strategic issues, which may have an impact on their organizations as well as the CRA clients they serve. It also promotes openness and transparency in CRA decision making on policy and program development.

The CRA's key stakeholders are identified based on their:

• influence on the Agency's planning and priorities;
• potential to influence the public's perception of the CRA;
• significance as representatives of a specific stakeholder community at a national level, or as national opinion leaders within their communities; and
• importance as potential partners or adversaries in advancing the priorities and goals of the Agency, for example, e-services.

Some of the CRA's key stakeholders include:

• Association de planification fiscale et financière
• Canadian Bankers Association
• Canadian Chamber of Commerce
• Canadian Federation of Independent Business
• Canadian Payroll Association
• Canadian Tax Foundation
• C.D. Howe Institute
• Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada
• Conference Board of Canada
• Efile Association of Canada
• Tax Executives Institute
• Volunteers for CRA's Community Volunteer Income Tax Program

Footnotes

Footnote 1

The responsibility for CRA's information technology infrastructure services was transferred to Shared Services Canada in 2011.

Return to footnote 1referrer

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Date modified:

2016-03-08