The Canada Revenue Agency’s contact centres provided accurate responses to individuals’ questions about taxes only 17 per cent of the time between February and May 2025, the federal auditor general said in a report released Tuesday.
Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office placed calls to the CRA’s contact centres over four months this year, asking general questions.
The report said the call centres were better suited to addressing business tax or benefits questions, and provided accurate responses to those calls 54 per cent of the time. The report said the “completeness” of responses to those questions was just over 30 per cent.
They were much worse at answering questions about individual taxes; the auditor general estimates the accuracy and completeness of responses to those questions at just 17 per cent.
The report said the CRA seems more concerned with adhering to schedules for shifts and breaks than with the “accuracy and completeness of information they provided to callers.”
“The Income Tax Act has become so long and complex that virtually no one can understand it,” said the federation’s federal director Franco Terrazzano. “Hiring more bureaucrats to give even more wrong answers won’t actually fix the problem.”
Just 18 per cent of incoming calls this year met the CRA service standard by being answered within 15 minutes, Hogan’s report said. Most callers waited an average of 31 minutes, she added.
“The Canada Revenue Agency has a duty to help individuals and businesses meet their tax obligations and access benefits,” Hogan said in a media statement.
“I am concerned that in spite of a new call system and other improvements, Canadians are still waiting too long to get answers to their tax questions.”
