CRA still giving incorrect information on tax issues

OTTAWA – The Canada Revenue Agency is still giving wrong information to people inquiring about tax issues.

The Auditor General looked at the CRA’s call centres in 2017 and found agents were giving the wrong information as much as 30 per cent of the time.

It also found almost half of phone calls didn’t get through, with callers getting busy signals and having to call back multiple times.

Manitoba Conservative MP Marty Morantz raised the problem with an order paper question in the House of Commons, wanting to know if the government had turned the numbers around.

In the current fiscal year, the government found call centre agents were giving the wrong information 13 per cent of the time to personal tax filers, 17 per cent of the time for benefit inquires and six per cent of the time for business inquiries.

In 2018, the agency overhauled training requirements for new call centre agents having them do eight weeks of additional training on top of the six that was required previously, all before they start taking live calls.

They’re also more frequently updating manuals and guides the operators refer to when taking calls.

“Training modules are regularly updated and new products are developed to ensure a comprehensive and relevant training program for new call centre agents,” reads the government’s response.

The CRA also has a new phone system that has made it so all but eight per cent of calls are now getting through. The agency’s spokesperson Christopher Doody said they are seeing improvements and hope to answer 100 per cent of calls in time.

“The CRA continuously analyzes call volume data in order to best predict peak periods and adjust our call centre agent availability accordingly. We also increase the number of call centre agents and extend our hours during the busy tax period.”

The agency gets more than 53 million calls per year and Doody said they also want more information available online, so people don’t have to call in at all.

Confusion over tax issues could cost Canadians, said the Auditor General’s report in 2017.

“This could lead to callers paying too much or too little tax and later being subject to reassessments or objections. It might also result in taxpayers not receiving benefits they are entitled to,” said the report.

Morantz said he is not convinced the government is giving the full picture of the issues.

He points to a report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB), as well as a report the CRA commissioned last year that found 84 per cent of people had an experience with the agency that did not meet their needs.

“I see a very large disconnect between what the CRA is saying and not just an independent report, but also a report done by CRA consultants.”

Morantz said the agency needs more than just customer service goals, but real legislated targets to ensure taxpayers get the service they need.