As you’re studying this, it’s day 57 or so of the
“100-Day Plan” to attempt to enhance its
.
The event of a plan was introduced by Minister
on Sept. 2, after
on X (previously often known as Twitter) that it was obvious the CRA was not assembly applicable service requirements for Canadians.
That assertion was hardly a revelation given the deeply entrenched points the CRA has had with its name centres. So long as I’ve been practising — 30-plus years — it’s been arduous to get by way of to talk to an agent. However that has just lately grow to be noticeably worse.
The CRA has been updating Canadians on its progress on the
by way of a
. Among the enhancements are commendable, however to recommend the CRA’s systemic issues will be solved in 100 days is laughable. It would take way more time to make
necessary and sustainable improvements
.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsman agreed in a
it launched late final week, which counseled the CRA for progress thus far, however stated that “with some processing delays far exceeding the CRA’s standard service requirements, it’s unlikely that the CRA will cut back the backlog to a sustainable stage by the top of the 100-day interval.
An extended-term dedication and enough assets will probably be crucial. By lowering its processing delays, the CRA might cut back the variety of calls it receives and
reduce wait times for taxpayers
.”
And now we all know why Champagne directed the CRA to provide you with a 100-day plan. Timing, as they are saying, is all the things. Final week, the auditor normal launched its
on the findings about its CRA name centre efficiency audit. It’s apparent that he and CRA had obtained an advance copy of the report and needed to get forward of its findings and proposals. It’s very damning.
Some highlights:
- “Within the 2024–25 fiscal yr, the company obtained greater than 32 million calls. To deal with these inquiries, the company relied on a workforce of about 4,500 brokers as of March 31, 2025.”
- “In our 2017 audit of name centres, the (CRA’s) service normal was to have its brokers reply calls inside two minutes, 80 per cent of the time. Nonetheless, to attain this normal, the company blocked a excessive variety of calls. For the month of June 2025, the company indicated that solely 5 per cent of the calls have been answered inside quarter-hour.”
- “Between 2023–24 and 2024–25, the variety of contact centre brokers was diminished by 22 per cent. As of Could 31, 2025, there have been 3,530 brokers in contrast with 4,547 on March 31, 2025, and with 5,837 on March 31, 2024.”
- “In fall 2024, the company reintroduced name deflection, which redirected calls to the self-service choice … with out giving the caller the choice to talk to an agent. For … 2024–25 … roughly 8.6 million calls have been deflected.”
- “By way of our testing of non-account-specific or normal questions, we discovered that within the space of particular person taxes, solely 17 per cent of the solutions supplied have been correct.”
- “We additionally discovered that restricted time was devoted to enhancing accuracy and completeness by way of high quality analysis suggestions and training. In 2024–25, the company reported over 130,000 hours spent on high quality evaluations which resulted in solely 2,200 hours of teaching, suggestions or coaching — beneath half-hour per agent yearly.”
Once more, it is a scathing report.
Level No. 5 has been getting probably the most consideration by media — solely 17 per cent of the solutions have been correct — and that’s regarding. Nonetheless, to be honest, Canadians have to first perceive that the CRA just isn’t within the enterprise of offering tax recommendation. It’s within the enterprise of administering our advanced taxation statutes.
Second, it’s a stretch to suppose that CRA name centre brokers are anticipated to know the solutions to earnings tax questions posed to them on the cellphone. The auditor normal’s report doesn’t disclose the questions that have been requested. Have been they easy questions? Troublesome?
Within the tax world, there should not many easy questions and to place the CRA on this age of instantaneous gratification to an ordinary of answering questions on the spot is debatable. Even seasoned tax professionals akin to myself cringe to reply questions on the spot. In case you’re a tax practitioner who’s comfy with that, properly, peace be with you.
However, the reply to enhancing high quality solutions and repair is to coach brokers that a lot better. It’s stunning to me that brokers obtain solely half-hour of annual coaching (#level No. 6).
Tax is likely one of the most advanced topics identified to man. To have solely half-hour of annual coaching to manage such complexity is silly. That should enhance and it will probably simply be achieved.
Mixed with higher coaching, probably the most substantive factor that may be achieved is for Canada to make an actual effort to simplify our total tax system. That’s simpler stated than achieved and would require a political dedication for total tax reform that’s lengthy overdue.
The
to enhancing CRA’s name centres is to not add to their already bloated headcount. Having stated that, the data disclosed in level No. 3 is regarding. Why would the CRA cut back the variety of name brokers when volumes have been growing and requirements reducing? Appears counterintuitive to me.
Clearly, there’s a proper variety of brokers who must be taking the calls and the CRA must get again to that match.
The CRA’s 100-day plan ought to embrace implementing callback queues and a scheduling system, setting arduous service requirements, increasing the devoted phone service for earnings tax professionals, making certain unbiased oversight and, as highlighted above, coaching its group members higher.
The CRA should do higher. There are about 43 days left for the CRA to show it’s severe about enhancing service to Canadians, not simply deflecting accountability prefer it deflects calls.
Kim Moody, FCPA, FCA, TEP, is the founding father of Moodys Tax/Moodys Non-public Shopper, a former chair of the Canadian Tax Basis, former chair of the Society of Property Practitioners (Canada) and has held many different management positions within the Canadian tax neighborhood. He will be reached at kgcm@kimgcmoody.com and his LinkedIn profile is https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimgcmoody.
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