ARCHIVED – Taxpayer Fairness Mechanisms

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1. How did the CRA undertake the consultations described in the 2010 Federal Budget?
2. What were the findings from the consultations?
3. What action is the CRA taking to address the findings?

1. How did the CRA undertake the consultations described in the 2010 Federal Budget?

The 2010 Federal Budget committed the CRA to undertake consultations to strengthen the transparency and accessibility of the various taxpayer fairness mechanisms.

The CRA engaged an independent third party with expertise in public consultations to provide external, unbiased expertise in the collection and analysis of data.

The consultations included an online survey, meetings with front-line CRA staff, representatives from the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman and the following four external stakeholder groups:

• the Canadian Federation of Independent Business;
• the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation;
• the Canadian Payroll Association; and
• the Certified General Accountants Association of Canada.

The consultations were conducted throughout 2010.

2. What were the findings from the consultations?

The consultations indicate that:

• there is low public awareness of the various taxpayer fairness mechanisms and that, while tax professionals have more awareness of these mechanisms, there is misunderstanding about their scope and use;
• front-line CRA employees who provide direct support to the public are appropriately trained on the various fairness mechanisms;
• the CRA's online and published information related to the taxpayer fairness mechanisms is complete but generally, this information can be hard to locate;
• there is confusion between the process to follow to resolve service related issues and the legislative redress mechanisms.

3. What action is the CRA taking to address the findings?

The CRA has developed an action plan to enhance Canadians' accessibility to the fairness mechanisms. Improvements to the CRA's Internet site will be made to simplify navigation and search capabilities, and to provide targeted information to tax professionals and stakeholder groups that is tailored to meet their needs. CRA's guides, pamphlets and other publications will be specifically reviewed in regards to the information provided regarding the CRA's fairness mechanisms to ensure that they provide clear, easy to understand information. Targeted outreach will be undertaken, in partnership with various external stakeholders, using a variety of media such as appropriate links on stakeholder Web sites, professional journals, speaking engagements and electronic media. Through this multi-level approach, the CRA will be in a position to interact with Canadians through the information vehicle of their choice.

Date modified:

2015-07-15