Management of Services

Expectation (a): Service Strategy – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a service strategy that is adaptable to meet the evolving needs of taxpayers and benefit recipients.

Key Questions 1: Is implementation of the Service Strategy proceeding as planned?

Response

• The annual reports on the implementation of the CRA's Service Strategy will measure the CRA's performance in three areas: meeting established service standards; increasing self-service uptake and taxpayer satisfaction. Our progress will be measured using selected internal and external metrics, and will focus on key service workloads such as enquiries, filing and payment remitting. The taxpayer satisfaction measure is drawn from the results of the Annual Corporate Survey.
• Baseline data was presented and approved by the Board of Management at their November 2009 Strategic Planning Meeting.

Sources of Evidence

• Board Strategic Planning Meeting – November 2009

Key Questions 2: Is the Agency realizing progress on the objectives established in its Service Strategy?

Response

• The first report on the implementation of the Service Strategy will be provided to the Board of Management in September 2010. This report will use the approved baseline measures as a reference for demonstrating the CRA's progress in achieving the Service Strategy objectives.

Sources of Evidence

• CRA Service Strategy Baseline, November 2009

Expectation (b): Service Performance Measurement – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established performance targets and monitoring of performance for key service elements and an appropriate methodology for measuring taxpayer and benefit recipient satisfaction.

Key Questions 1: Does the CRA actively manage its services to ensure that service standards for key services are consistently met or exceeded?

Response

• The CRA met or mostly met 38 out of 47 service standards in 2008-2009. All high volume, high profile service standards have been met.
• In 2009-2010, the Agency launched a comprehensive review of its external service standards, the first of its kind. The preliminary results indicate a good mix of timeliness, accuracy, and accessibility standards. The CRA is a leader among Canadian public sector organizations regarding service standards, and compares quite favourably with international tax jurisdictions.
• The Service Standard Review Project identified potential gaps where new standards could be implemented and where existing standards require improvement, modification, or elimination in order to be meaningful and useful to clients. This addresses a next step identified in the BoMOF – Assessment of Performance 2008-2009.
• The final report will be presented to the Board in 2010.

Sources of Evidence

• Canada Revenue Agency Annual Report to Parliament 2008-2009 (Section: Service Standards in the CRA – Overall Results, pages 93-99)
• Canada Revenue Agency Annual Report to Parliament 2008-2009
• Current Year Service Standards 2009-2010
• Past Performance and Related Information 2003-2008
• CRA Web site
• 2005-2009 Annual Corporate Survey

Key Questions 2: Is CRA's performance against key service standards transparent to Canadians?

Response

• Performance against service standards is reported annually in the Annual Report to Parliament.
• Additional performance information on selected service standards is published on the CRA external web site on the Corporate Reports and Information page. This addresses a next step identified in the BoMOF – Assessment of Performance 2008-2009.

Key Questions 3: How is taxpayer and benefit recipient satisfaction with CRA services tracking?

Response

• The CRA regularly conducts user surveys of both the business and individual communities in order to gauge levels of user satisfaction.
• Overall satisfaction with service is good at 62% and has been steady over the past five years with a slight dip noted in 2007.
• In 2009 with respect to service quality:
  • 87% of respondents indicated they were treated fairly.
  • 81% of respondents agree that the CRA staff is knowledgeable and competent.
  • 79% agree their service needs were met in the end.

Key Questions 4: Are there reasonable explanations for the results of taxpayer and benefit recipient satisfaction with CRA services?

Response

• Possible activities that could have influenced the results of taxpayer and benefit recipient satisfaction with CRA services are:
  • In 2009, 79% of Canadians who received service from the Agency reported that their needs were met. This result, similar to many of the service indicators, has remained stable since 2007 when a drop was recorded from the 82% recorded in 2005;
  • After 2007 Annual Survey results, CRA invested a further $30 million into phone services which seems to have arrested declines and in some cases rebounded to 2005 baseline levels in service indicators; and
  • The Canada Revenue Agency Web site Strategic Plan: 2009-2012 has established a number of key performance indicators related to user satisfaction that will be tracked to ensure consistent and persistent improvement.

Sources of Evidence

• 2005-2009 Annual Corporate Survey

Expectation (c): Service Redress Mechanism – The Board must assure itself that the Agency has established a sound management framework for the services it delivers including a service redress mechanism to address service complaints in a timely fashion.

Key Questions 1: Does the Agency address the service complaints it receives in a timely manner?

Response

• As of the 3rd quarter of 2009-2010, 1966 complaints had been resolved; 92.6% of these complaints were resolved within the target time of 30 days. Closing inventory as of Q3 was 136. The number of service complaints received by the CRA is infinitesimal compared to the number of service transactions that occur per year (approximately 2,500 complaints/10 million transactions = 2/100 of a percentage).
• Complaints are acknowledged within 48 hours and the complainant is contacted within 15 days and every 15 days thereafter if required.
• All standards are expected to be met 90% of the time.

Sources of Evidence

• Appeals Workload Management and Information Reporting Infrastructure (ReportNet)

Key Questions 2: How does the Agency ensure its service redress mechanisms are effective and efficient?

Response

• The Taxpayer Bill of Rights, CRA-Service Complaints, and the Taxpayers' Ombudsman add to the Agency's current recourse processes by adding a formalized Agency-wide system of recourse for the resolution of service complaints.
• Quarterly meetings are scheduled between the Deputy Commissioner and key assistant commissioners with the Ombudsman and his office.
• Over the last year, the Agency has been working with the Office of the Ombudsman to strengthen our working relationship.
• Both organizations are looking at identifying the types of complaints each are receiving to determine potential systemic issues and subsequently address them with the appropriate branches.
• The Ombudsman presented his first Annual Report to the Board in December 2009.
• Internal structures are in place to address service-related issues including the National Intake Centre, six centres of expertise, Service Complaints Office in Appeals Branch at headquarters, and the CRA Ombudsman Liaison Office.
• The Agency is reviewing its Service Complaints Program with the intention of making it more visible and accessible to taxpayers and benefit recipients, particularly with a view to improve its presence on the CRA website.
• Appeals Branch is also heavily involved in “in reach” to raise awareness of the Service Complaints Program within the Agency. It is developing a web-based tool that will allow employees to directly submit complaints that they have received to the Service Complaints Program.
• The 2008-2009 CRA-Service Complaints Annual Report provides an overview of the program and a summary of statistical and analytical complaint information.
• Out of 2,738 complaints received 93.6% were actually service-related complaints. 66.6% of complaints were resolved over the phone, the remaining decisions were communicated in writing. The top three complaint issues for 2008-2009 are the following:
  • Dissatisfaction of a CRA process – 21.7%
  • Time to finalize a CRA process – 21.3%
  • Refunds/benefits being received outside published service standard – 9.4%
• Performance measures to address timely resolution of service complaints inventory levels have been developed. This addresses a Board comment identified in the BoMOF – Assessment of Performance 2008-2009.
• CRA is currently developing a systemic issue identification database to identify and track trends and issues that affect service delivery.

Sources of Evidence

• CRA Service Complaints Annual Report 2008-2009
• Systemic Issue Identification Framework

Date modified:

2010-11-15