CRA receives boost from Budget 2024

The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) automatic tax filing pilot will commence this summer, with the agency receiving $336 million to reduce its call centre wait times, the Liberal government proposed in its annual budget tabled Tuesday.

The tax filing pilot will mostly benefit low-income Canadians who do not file taxes and are missing out on benefits for which they are eligible, the government said. About 17% of Canadians earning under $20,000 did not file income taxes in 2020, according to Statistics Canada.

Automatic tax filing is expected to cost the government $10 million in fiscal year 2024–25 and $11 million a year from 2025 to 2029.

The government is also proposing to spend $336 million over the next two years to improve the efficiency of CRA call centres.

If the tax agency can improve the training and number of agents at its call centres, wait times and the accuracy of answers provided to Canadians should improve, said Jamie Golombek, managing director of tax and estate planning with CIBC Private Wealth.

The federal government previously earmarked $400 million between 2022 and 2024 to support the CRA’s call centres as part of its 2022 fall economic statement.

The Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson received 2,188 complaints between April 2022 and March 2023, down from 3,533 from April 2020 to March 2021.

Jonathan Got

Jonathan Got is a reporter with Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. Reach him at jonathan@newcom.ca.