Top complaints about CRA include slow responses, inconsistent info

In this file photo, Taxpayers' Ombudsman Sherra Profit holds a press conference at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Monday, June 5, 2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / Sean Kilpatrick)

The Canada Revenue Agency is improving its customer service, but still struggles with providing timely responses and clear information, according to the organization’s service watchdog.

Federal Taxpayers’ Ombudsman Sherra Profit released her annual report Tuesday, detailing the top complaints her office has received about the service provided by the CRA.

At the head of the list were issues with delays in processing tax returns. Profit said her office had heard more complaints about personal returns not being processed within the CRA’s published service standards than for any other issue.

Other major issues flagged by Profit include people feeling information CRA had given them about their returns was unclear, agents on the agency’s phone help line being difficult to get a hold of and providing contradictory information, and tax adjustment requests being responded to slower than expected.

In one case, Profit said, a taxpayer received a collection letter claiming they owed an incorrect amount. Multiple attempts to contact the CRA’s complaints officer went unreturned. Once Profit’s office got involved, the agency said it had not responded to the taxpayer “due to the high volume of complaints” it was dealing with.

“The CRA needs to look at itself from the perspective of those it serves,” Profit wrote.

Profit said the agency is making progress on improving its service and eliminating the “barriers and silos” that contribute to many of the issues raised in her report.

The Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman referred 724 complaints to the CRA in 2017-18. According to the report, the agency took action on 93 per cent of the complaints it received.