Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2017-2018 to 2019-2020
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Summary of the Corporate Business Plan 2017-2018 to 2019-2020
Service standards
The CRA continues to examine opportunities to update and streamline service standards to keep pace with changes, client preferences, technology and business processes, and evolving services. The CRA considers what would be most meaningful to Canadians when updating service standards.
New this year, the CRA has simplified the presentation of its service standards by grouping them into six categories:
- Tax returns, benefits, and claims
- Pension, deferred, and education plans
- Charities
- Rulings and interpretations
- Issue resolution
- Enquiries and account updates
New service standards
To ensure relevance and client-focus, and to recognize the growing use of electronic services, the CRA is introducing several new service standards:
- a standard for My Business Account online enquiries
- two new Debt Management Call Centre telephone enquiries standards
- new standards focussing on issue resolution rather than acknowledgement
Revising service standards
The CRA is also revising several service standards to:
- focus on output instead of process
- communicate timelines more consistently
- adopt a common target of 95% for returns processing and account adjustments
- merge similar services into one, with differing standards for electronic and paper, if applicable
- streamline and simplify by combining seven enquiries services (general, business, GST/HST credit, e-Services, Charities, GST/HST rulings and interpretations, and Canada child benefit) into one service standard: Telephone enquiries service
Retiring service standards
The CRA will retire several service standards to streamline the overall portfolio of service standards:
- service standards for services with relatively low demand
- timeliness for benefit applications and telephone enquiries
- written enquiries about benefits as a result of the telephone enquiries focus
- acknowledgement of issues will be replaced with more meaningful standards for issue resolution
The full suite of CRA service standards for 2017-2018 is listed below
| Tax returns, benefits, and claims | Service standard | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Individual income tax returns (T1) | Our goal is to issue your notice of assessment within two weeks of receiving your digital individual income tax return, and within eight weeks of receiving your paper individual income tax return.Footnote 1 | 95% |
| Corporation income tax returns (T2) | Our goal is to issue your notice of assessment within six weeks of receiving your digital corporation income tax return, and within sixteen weeks of receiving your paper corporation income tax return. | 95% |
| GST/HST returns | Our goal is to issue your notice of assessment, if applicable, within four weeks of receiving your digital GST/HST return, and within eight weeks of receiving your paper GST/HST return.Footnote 2 | 95% |
| Trust returns (T3) | Our goal is to issue your notice of assessment within seventeen weeks of receiving your trust return. | 95% |
| T1 adjustment requests | Our goal is to issue your notice of reassessment within an average of two weeks of receiving your digital request to change your individual income tax return, and within an average of eight weeks of receiving your paper request to change your individual income tax return. | 95% |
| Benefit applications | Our goal is to issue your notice and payment, if applicable, within eight weeks of receiving your digital benefit application, and within eleven weeks of receiving your paper benefit application. | 95% |
| Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – claimant-requested adjustments to refundable claims | Our goal is to process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) in Canada within 240 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim for refundable claims related to adjustments requested to previously filed income tax returns. | 90% |
| Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – non-refundable claims | Our goal is to process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) in Canada within 365 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim for non-refundable claims. | 90% |
| Claims – SR&ED tax incentives – refundable claims | Our goal is to process claims for tax incentives from businesses that conduct scientific research and experimental development (SR&ED) in Canada within 120 calendar days from receipt of a complete claim for refundable claims. | 90% |
| Claims – video and film tax credits – refundable claims – audited | Our goal is to review T2 corporation income tax returns that include claims for the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, the Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit, the B.C. Film and Television Tax credit, the B.C. Production Services Tax Credit, the Manitoba Film and Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit, and the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit within 120 calendar days from the date of receipt where audit action is undertaken. | 90% |
| Claims – video and film tax credits – refundable claims - unaudited | Our goal is to review T2 corporation income tax returns that include claims for the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, the Film or Video Production Services Tax Credit, the B.C. Film and Television Tax credit, the B.C. Production Services Tax Credit, the Manitoba Film and Video Production Tax Credit, and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit, and the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit within 60 calendar days from the date of receipt where no audit action is undertaken. | 90% |
| Pension, deferred, and education plans | Service standard | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Deferred income plans – response to written enquiries | Our goal is to respond to a written enquiry within 60 calendar days. | 80% |
| Actuarial valuation reports | Our goal is to provide a decision on the recommended employer contributions to a registered pension plan, within 270 calendar days of receipt of the actuarial valuation report. | 80% |
| Applications to register pension plans and deferred profit sharing plans | Our goal is to provide a decision within 180 calendar days of receipt of an application to register a pension plan or a deferred profit-sharing plan. | 85% |
| Education savings plans (applications to register, amend, or terminate) | Our goal is to provide a decision within 60 calendar days to a request to approve, amend, or terminate a specimen for an education savings plan. | 85% |
| Retirement income funds (applications to register, amend, or terminate) | Our goal is to provide a decision within 60 calendar days to a request to approve, amend, or terminate a specimen for a retirement income fund. | 80% |
| Retirement savings plans (applications to register, amend, or terminate) | Our goal is to provide a decision within 60 calendar days to a request to approve, amend, or terminate a specimen for a retirement savings plan. | 80% |
| Charities | Service standard | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Charities – written enquiries | Our goal is to review and respond to a routineFootnote 3 written enquiry within 45 calendar days, and review and respond to a complexFootnote 4 written enquiry within 120 calendar days. | 80% |
| Charities – responding to applications | Our goal is to respond to a complete simpleFootnote 5 application for charitable registration within two months, and respond to a complete regularFootnote 6 application for charitable registration within six months. | 80% |
| Rulings and interpretations | Service standard | Target |
|---|---|---|
| GST/HST rulings and interpretations – written enquiries | Our goal is to respond to written requests for a GST/HST ruling or interpretation within 45 business days of CRA receipt of the request and all the relevant facts and supporting documentation. This excludes highly technical and precedent and/or policy-setting rulings and interpretations. | 80% |
| Advance income tax rulings | Our goal is to issue an advance income tax ruling within 90 business days of receipt of all essential information from the client. | 85% |
| Technical interpretations | Our goal is to issue a technical interpretation within 90 business days of receipt of all essential information from the client. | 85% |
| Issue resolution | Service standard | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Taxpayer Relief Program | Our goal is to issue a decision on a taxpayer relief request to cancel or waive penalties and interest within 180 calendar days. | 85% |
| Income Tax and Commodity Tax ObjectionsFootnote 7 | Our goal is to resolve a low-complexity tax objection within 180 calendar days. | 80% |
| Service Complaints – 30 day resolution | Our goal is to resolve the complaint within 30 business days. | 80% |
| Enquiries and account updates | Service standard | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Telephone enquiries serviceFootnote 8 | Our goal is to respond to your telephone call within two minutes of your choosing to speak to an agent. | 80% |
| My Business Account enquiries | Our goal is to respond to your enquiries submitted through the My Business Account within two weeks. | 95% |
| Debt Management Call Centre – tax programs telephone service level | Our goal is to respond to a call in the agent queue within one minute. | 80% |
| Debt Management Call Centre – government programs telephone service level | Our goal is to respond to a call in the agent queue within two minutes. | 80% |
| Authorize or cancel a representative | Our goal is to update your account information within three business days of receiving your digital request to authorize or cancel a representative, and within four weeks of receiving your paper requestFootnote 9 to authorize or cancel a representative. | 95% |
Tablenotes
- Footnote 1
-
Timeline is only valid for returns received on or before filing due dates.
- Footnote 2
-
You will not receive a notice of assessment if there is no balance or credit owing.
- Footnote 3
-
An enquiry that is generally recurring and that needs little research and analysis.
- Footnote 4
-
An enquiry that is specific to a given charity or a donor and needs research or analysis, as well as consultation with internal stakeholders.
- Footnote 5
-
An application that has only charitable purposes and activities and for which no more information is needed.
- Footnote 6
-
An application for which we need more information before we can determine if the organization qualifies for charitable registration.
- Footnote 7
-
Service standards are being reviewed to address the recommendations of the Auditor General.
- Footnote 8
-
This service standard is made up of the following telephone enquiries service standards: general enquiries, e-Services Helpdesk enquiries, business enquiries, Canada child benefit enquiries, charities enquiries, GST/HST rulings and interpretations enquiries, and GST/HST credit enquiries.
- Footnote 9
-
A paper request includes one that is sent online using our "Submit Documents" service.
- Date modified:
- 2017-03-10