Current status: In progress

The Canada Revenue Agency wants to improve and expand the virtual tax clinics of the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program, to meet the needs of community organizations, volunteers, and Canadians. To do this, we will consult with people who have been involved with the program's virtual tax clinics.

We want to:

• understand the challenges Canadians have had in using the program's virtual tax-filing services
• understand the barriers to accessing virtual tax clinics
• understand how we can support community organizations and volunteers in delivering virtual clinic services
• learn and share the best practices of community organizations and volunteers who have hosted virtual tax clinics

The proposed consultations will help us and community organizations to improve virtual tax clinics.

Join in: How to participate

Individuals who want to get more information or to take part in this consultation may contact us by sending an email to: VCresearchg@cra-arc.gc.ca.

We will select participants for each consultation, based on the following criteria:

The combination of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly approaching tax-filing season has led to the need for faster feedback and decision making. Therefore, we will engage with a carefully chosen group of targeted stakeholders who meet the above-mentioned criteria.

We are committed to respecting the privacy of consultation participants. All personal information created, held or collected by us during consultation processes is protected by the Privacy Act. For more information on our privacy policies, see Protecting your privacy.

Consultation methodology

We will hold virtual consultations in two phases:

• The first phase will involve phone interviews with tax filers, as well as with the program's participating organizations and volunteers. Participants will be asked to answer questions about their experiences with the program's virtual clinics
• The second phase will include a virtual roundtable with community organizations, to review results and next steps

Who is the focus of this consultation

• Tax-filers with a modest income and a simple tax situation who are eligible for the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program
• the program's volunteers
• the program's participating community organizations

Key themes for discussion

Ideas and input will be sought around the following themes:

• clinic preparation and the chosen method(s) for virtual tax-filing
• volunteer recruitment for virtual tax preparation
• promotion of virtual tax-filing services as a new option
• benefits and challenges of virtual filing of an income tax and benefit return
• individuals' experiences using a virtual tax clinic to file their return
• service accessibility
• barriers and challenges
• best practices in hosting the program's virtual clinics

Related Information

Community Volunteer Income Tax Program – Free Tax Clinics