The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is listening to Canadians, changing how it works and improving its services based on Canadians’ feedback.
Today, as part of its efforts to put people at the centre of everything it does, the CRA released its Serving Canadians Better consultation report. While the CRA regularly engages in consultations, most recently with small and medium businesses, the Serving Canadians Better consultations were the CRA’s first of its kind, allowing people from across the country to highlight opportunities for the CRA to improve.
“Our Government is committed to ensuring that the CRA provides better service and to make taxpayers feel like valued clients,” The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue said. “We know that there is always room for improvement, and the results of these consultations will help the Canada Revenue Agency serve Canadians better. We know that Canadians want to see action and real results, and we are committed to meeting their expectations.”
Online consultations were open to all Canadians from April 23 to June 18, 2019 in both official languages.
During the consultations, Canadians made it clear that they would like the CRA to make its programs and services more accessible and to strive to always provide accurate information. They want services that are personal and tailored to their individual needs, easy to understand, consistent, and modern.
Over 3,300 submissions were received through CRA’s online engagement platform and over 140 Canadians participated in these focused conversations.
Canadians want to see action. Engaging with clients to understand their needs and expectations is an important part of the CRA’s journey to become a more people-centric organization. That is why, starting this upcoming tax season, the CRA will begin announcing some new initiatives that put people at the centre of service delivery. The CRA’s goal is to create a positive client experience by making it easy for clients to do business with them.
On average, 20 participants attended each session and Canadians from various walks of life were recruited by a neutral third-party.
The long-term goal of this approach is to enable a seamless experience, regardless of how, when, or with whom in the CRA the client is interacting. This will allow the CRA to address clients’ needs in a more timely way, making it easy for them to get it right, while remaining transparent and accountable for its decisions, and trustworthy and fair at every turn.
To gather more in-depth information, 7 in-person consultations were conducted across Canada during May and June 2019.
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