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This chapter is based on the Program Activity Architecture (PAA) developed by the CRA with the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. While the details are still evolving, the PAA provides a structure for organizing, integrating, and presenting plans, budgets, and performance measures.
The Strategic Framework (Strategic Planning and Performance Reporting Framework) links program activities and expected results, according to the PAA.
The CRA continues to have two strategic outcomes:
The chapter is organized according to these strategic outcomes and the seven program activities (PAs) that support them:
For each program activity, we present planned spending, an overview of the program, the approaches planned to advance the program, and the priority initiatives for the planning period. We group together initiatives supporting core business and other initiatives reflecting new business opportunities.
Each section concludes with a table of deliverables for the planning period as well as performance indicators and targets measuring the program activity’s expected results. These targets identify the percentage or degree of expected attainment of a performance level. Targets are established by program managers through analysis of operational realities and infrastructure, historical performance, the complexity of the work involved, and the expectations of Canadians.
The Corporate Services section covers infrastructure activities (e.g., information technology, financial management, and human resource administration) where enhancements support both a strong core business and capacity changes implicit in Agency 2010. Initiatives to mature the governance regime are also outlined in this section. As with last year’s report, corporate services expenses have been proportionately allocated among the six core tax and benefit program activities.
In addition, given that five years have now passed since the Agency was created, and since the departure of the customs function represents a significant change, we have updated our mission, vision, and values to better reflect our mandate, culture, and the operating environment.
Each year, Tax Services interacts with 30 million individuals, businesses, trusts, and other organizations as it administers, assesses, and collects over $330 billion in taxes and excise duties, including more than $40 billion in taxes on behalf of Canada’s provinces (excluding Québec), territorial governments, and First Nations. The amounts collected help fund a wide range of programs and services that contribute to the social and economic well-being of all Canadians.
The five Tax Services program activities help to ensure that taxpayers and businesses receive accurate information and assistance so that they can understand their rights and obligations. Tax Services activities include registering businesses, charities, and deferred income plans; obtaining and processing returns and payments; issuing rulings on and interpretations of tax law; collecting arrears; performing reviews and audits; and identifying and prosecuting cases of wilful non-compliance. We also administer tax incentives, such as the Scientific Research and Experimental Development tax credit, film tax credits, and other targeted credits, as well as deductions that generate refunds or otherwise reduce the amount of tax that would be owed.
The Strategic Outcome for the combined Tax Services program activities is — Taxpayers meet their obligations and Canada’s revenue base is protected.
The table on the next page (Strategic Outcome Measures – Tax Services) identifies the high-level measures we use to ensure that we meet this Strategic Outcome.
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Budgetary Main Estimates – gross (see Financial Table 1) |
The Client Assistance program activity has two sub-activities:
Through self-service and agent assistance, the Client Services sub-activity provides access to tools, assistance, and information that facilitate voluntary compliance with tax obligations.
To maintain our strong core business performance and our position as an innovative service leader, the CRA is continually enhancing and modernizing its services. We will focus on improving the quality of our services so that they are simpler and easier to use and facilitate compliance.
Our strategies build on the CRA’s track record, including performance measurement against published external service standards. They are also in line with the Government of Canada’s vision for the Next Generation Public Service.
We regularly analyze the demographics of taxpayers and businesses requesting in-person assistance, as well as the nature of their enquiries. The aim is to better tailor service options and redirect enquiries to more cost-effective channels, such as our Web site and the telephone.
Strong and Modern Core Business
Traditionally, information was provided to taxpayers on a per-program basis, and those with questions about several programs had to make multiple enquiries. We will continue to realign our service options and information material toward an approach centred on taxpayers or businesses, offering tools and information tailored to their needs.
To reduce costs, we will encourage increased use of self-service options. At the same time, we recognize that some of the public prefer in-person service. Accordingly, we will continue to offer such service by appointment, but we will organize targeted outreach and educational programs to promote and encourage the use of assisted self-service.
We will strengthen and enhance our technology/infrastructure on all channels. This will support an integrated, taxpayer- or business-centred service approach. It will also give us more flexibility to link to other organizations, programs, and levels of government, and to provide services on their behalf.
We will actively pursue partnerships with other service organizations at the federal, provincial, territorial and First Nations levels. This will allow us to provide more integrated services to Canadians and businesses where it makes sense to do so.
New strategies will foster a dynamic and flexible workforce that can respond in a taxpayer- or business-centric manner to changing and increasingly complex enquiries and concerns. With increased use of self-service options and program integration, CRA agents are expected to respond to more complex issues. To assist them, we will provide interactive e-learning and online integrated reference tools.
To support decisions on the design of our Web site, Web analysis will include feedback from taxpayers, businesses, and their agents, as well as research results. This will facilitate ongoing improvement of our online information services.
Outreach programs will address changing demographics, economic trends, and national and local compliance issues. The programs will be fine-tuned to meet the particular needs of specific taxpayer or business groups, such as small- and medium-sized enterprises, seniors, new Canadians, and students. We will also expand consultation and feedback so that we can continually evaluate taxpayer, business, and stakeholder needs and expectations.
We will continue to consolidate services and take on new business. In delivering services to Canadians, we will strive to innovate through business transformation and the ongoing evolution of agreements with Service Canada and provincial service organizations.
For taxpayers, our Tax and Regulatory Affairs sub-activity publishes advance income tax rulings relating to the tax consequences of proposed transactions, as well as technical interpretations of income tax law. Our GST/HST Rulings area provides taxpayers with an official interpretation or ruling of Part IX of the Excise Tax Act, in writing, by telephone, or in person and through various technical publications.
Our Registered Plans area registers and monitors pension and other deferred income plans, while our Charities function administers the national registration program for charities. A key activity has also been continuing implementation of the Charities Registration (Security Information) Act, which supports Canada’s national security agenda and international obligations to counter terrorism.
Our excise duties and taxes area is responsible for administering the non-GST portions of the Excise Tax Act, as well as the Excise Act and the Excise Act, 2001. This area is responsible for initiatives such as the Tobacco Compliance Strategy which will bring in a new stamping and marking regime to improve compliance with the tobacco tax legislation. The Excise area is also responsible for issues dealing with breweries, distilleries, and wineries.
On behalf of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD), we administer the determination of employment status, pensionable earnings, and the insurability of earnings provisions under the Canada Pension Plan and the Employment Insurance Act.
Charities: An ongoing priority is to enhance our services so that we can improve compliance. Our efforts will focus on implementing the charities regulatory reform agenda. This is designed to give charities better access to policy information, increase the transparency of their decision-making, offer them a fair and accessible process of redress, and impose sanctions for non-compliance where appropriate. Our Charities area is also working with the provinces and territories to streamline and co-ordinate the overall regulatory framework.
Registered Plans: This sector has matured significantly since the implementation of pension reform regulations over a decade ago. We are committed to increasing compliance while providing strong assistance to clients across the sector. An enhanced audit and review function will allow us to monitor the plans we register. While compliance is a key component of our new approach, we are also upgrading services through our toll-free enquiries line, electronic publications, and outreach activities.
GST/HST/Excise: A specialized tobacco project team has been created at CRA headquarters to facilitate the implementation of our enhanced audit of small manufacturers initiative for the under-reporting of tobacco production. This team will develop specialized audit and compliance programs, procedures, policies, and guidelines, and identify program timelines and milestones. The team will provide technical assistance to field staff. It will hold numerous consultations and share information with the tobacco industry, provincial, territorial and First Nations authorities, and enforcement agencies such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The results will be better knowledge of non-compliance and a better ability to target potential non-compliance.
Strong and Modern Core Business
We remain committed to increasing compliance in all areas of tax regulation, while continuing to provide strong taxpayer assistance.
Charities: Fiscal year 2006-2007 will be the third year of a five-year reform initiative designed to improve the regulatory environment in which charities operate. We will work with the sector to promote the accurate and timely filing of the charity information return; ensuring broad access to the new redress process; and facilitating greater access to charities information.
In addition, an integrated Charities system will be implemented by March 31, 2008, facilitating the organization, accessing, and sharing of charities information across the function.
Registered Plans: We will implement new procedures to register deferred income plans, using a risk-based approach. To ensure that they are in compliance with the Income Tax Act and Regulations, we will focus on how these plans are administered. We will continue to enhance services to plan administrators by upgrading our toll-free enquiries line, making more information available electronically on our Web site, and improving our outreach activities.
GST/HST/Excise: Over the next several years, we will substantially increase the frequency of audit and compliance visits to tobacco manufacturers. At the same time, we will make greater use of administrative monetary penalties for unreported production resulting in avoidance of excise duty and other related taxes.
We will continue to establish and expand business relationships with other federal government departments, provinces and territories, and First Nations, to improve service and reduce overall administrative costs.
Program Priorities | Deliverables | Dates |
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Improved service and transparency: | ||
Enhanced compliance: | ||
Increased collaboration with charitable sector organizations and with other charities regulators: | ||
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Budgetary Main Estimates – gross (see Financial Table 1) |
Through the Assessment of Returns and Payment Processing program activity, we assess and process individual and business tax returns and payments using risk assessment, third-party data matching, and dependable information validation processes. As well, every known business in Canada is registered through this activity area (except those for which registration is not required by law).
We believe that high-quality service increases voluntary compliance by encouraging taxpayers and businesses to participate in an accessible and responsive tax system.
Over the planning period, we will:
Strong and Modern Core Business
Electronic filing and service offerings: We will rebuild and modernize our core information processing systems to make them more flexible and better able to respond to the business needs of existing and new clients.
In the short term, we plan the following actions:
New Budget 2006 Priority – 1% GST/HST reduction: The CRA is implementing the reduction in GST from 7% to 6% and in the HST from 15% to 14%, announced in the May 2006 Federal Budget. The change is effective July 2006.
We will continue to establish and expand business relationships with other federal, provincial and territorial and First Nation organizations to improve service to taxpayers/businesses and reduce overall administrative burden and costs. To this end, we will take the following actions:
Program Priorities | Deliverables | Dates |
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Electronic filing/services | ||
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Budgetary Main Estimates – gross (see Financial Table 1) |
Our Filing and Remittance Compliance program activities ensure compliance with tax laws for filing, withholding, and payment requirements, including amounts collected or withheld in trust on behalf of the Government of Canada and the provinces, territories, and First Nations.
Our non-filer/non-registrant function pursues unfiled personal and corporate income tax returns, as well as the registration of businesses that have not registered for the GST/HST as required. We also carry out compliance and enforcement activities related to filing returns and remitting payroll source deductions (encompassing taxes, Canada Pension Plan (CPP)/Employment Insurance (EI) premiums) and GST/HST amounts.
Our accounts receivable function is responsible for the timely collection of overdue accounts for all taxes, levies, duties, and other amounts, and assures effective tax debt management. This function now also deals with collection of non-tax debts for other departments regarding overpaid CPP and EI benefits, as well as the collection of defaulted student loans. The collection activities on these programs were transferred to the CRA on August 1, 2005.
The integrity of the tax system depends on taxpayers honouring their obligations by filing and properly reporting on their tax returns, and paying any amounts owing. Our program compliance approaches encourage taxpayers to voluntarily comply with their obligations. We are committed to using the full array of tools at our disposal to resolve cases that require more formal measures.
Since our collection and non-filer program activities are subject to important compliance risks, we plan to reinforce our processes and enforcement approaches aimed at curbing non-compliance.
For the planning period, we have an aggressive business transformation agenda built on:
Our business transformation agenda will strengthen the position of the CRA as an attractive and effective service provider. It will also create opportunities to market CRA services in the areas of tax and non-tax accounts receivable and returns compliance.
Strong and Modern Core Business
To manage growing workloads, we will modernize and improve core operations by adopting new business approaches and progressively implementing new technology for risk assessment, work distribution, and decision support.
Achieve our core tax program commitments and enhance their delivery: We will continue to meet our tax program commitments by maintaining the level of outstanding debts within targeted levels and by detecting and addressing non-compliance with the registration, filing, and remitting obligations of taxpayers.
2010 National Program Delivery Model: We will review existing workloads and associated business processes and identify opportunities for improvement through business re-engineering, application of technology, and workload management.
Non-tax collection program modernization and integration: This initiative relates to the modernization launched by Social Development Canada (now HRSD) before August 1, 2005, when it transferred collection activities to the CRA. The CRA’s new responsibilities mainly concern the recovery of CPP/EI social benefit overpayments and defaulted student loans. The business and modernization activities are currently being examined to adapt them to the CRA’s approaches as well as assuring the associated Expenditure Review Committee commitment of increased recoveries of $123 million over the next several years are met. Over the next three years, we will continue with the modernization initiative and progressively integrate the program and resources within the CRA.
Implement business transformation: The Agency must maximize the use of modern technology to support the strategic use of taxpayer information, and to improve the way we identify, manage, and distribute our workloads and measure our results.
We will implement a new technology platform within two years. This will allow us to integrate individual-based taxpayer workloads, and adopt a more taxpayer- or debtor-centric view. It will also aid in the resolution of our tax collections and compliance issues. Other lines of business are planned to migrate on this platform including non-tax collection workloads in the third year. Subsequent progress is expected for business clients (GST, T2, and Payroll) beyond the three-year timeframe.
We will support employees through the business transformation process by providing training, and revising job descriptions and competency requirements as enhancements and changes are made to our business processes.
Client base: We will create an expanded client base and strengthen existing relationships by pursuing new agreements on the collection of non-tax debts with other government departments (e.g., Justice, Citizenship and Immigration). We will also seek agreements with provincial Workers’ Compensation Boards in the area of joint compliance initiatives targeting registrants.
Program Priorities | Deliverables | Dates |
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Progressively implement a new technological platform: | |
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Budgetary Main Estimates – gross (see Financial Table 1) |
The Reporting Compliance program activity addresses the accuracy and completeness with which taxpayers report their tax liability. It covers a range of audit and enforcement sub-activities. Major functions include examinations, reviews, audits and investigations to ensure compliance with federal, provincial and territorial income tax and GST laws.
Our audit sub-activity deals with individual audits, business audits, international tax, and tax avoidance.
Our investigations sub-activity investigates suspected cases of tax evasion and fraud, pursues criminal prosecutions, and publicizes successful prosecutions of tax law offenders to deter others. In addition, our Special Enforcement Program helps combat organized crime by enforcing the legislation that the Agency administers.
The Reporting Compliance program activity is also responsible for administering the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP). The VDP encourages taxpayers to come forward and correct past omissions thus rendering themselves compliant with their legal obligations relating to taxation. Taxpayers who take advantage of the VDP, however, have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. In certain situations, the amount of interest to be paid may be reduced.
Our Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) sub-activity is a federal tax incentive encouraging Canadian businesses to conduct research and development in Canada.
Other functions include research and analysis of compliance behaviour and trends, identification and assessment of tax compliance risk, and development of tools for use in audits and investigations.
The Reporting Compliance program activity is delivered by over 9,500 employees across Canada. We conduct more than 318,000 compliance actions every year and refer over 200 investigations to the Department of Justice for prosecution. In 2004-2005, our actions had an identified fiscal impact of $5.78 billion, exceeding our commitment to the Government of Canada. We also process about 11,000 SR&ED claims each year.
The basis of the Canadian tax system is that taxpayers determine their own liability under the law and then pay the correct amount of tax. The vast majority of Canadians (individuals and businesses) comply with tax laws when provided with the proper information, tools, and assistance. When they do not, our strategy is to identify and detect the most serious non-compliance issues and cases, take appropriate action, and deter future non-compliance.
Our administration of the tax system relies on effective risk management to identify emerging compliance risks and assess them for their potential effect on the tax base. We then develop strategies for mitigating the greatest risks to compliance with federal and provincial/territorial laws. The strategies may involve adjustments to address specific taxpayer segments or particular areas of non-compliance, using a mix of instruments and activities. We continually review program results to confirm that they are achieving program expectations and to optimize resource utilization.
Part of our risk management approach is to maintain an audit presence across all industry sectors and types of taxpayers. This deters non-compliance by increasing the credibility and visibility of our compliance programs.
Our initiatives for the coming period show that we continue work we started in 2004-2005 with the Compliance Review, which confirmed that the greatest risks of reporting non-compliance are in aggressive tax planning, the underground economy and GST/HST fraud. These risks are not new. Giving them new emphasis, however, includes refining our understanding of non-compliant taxpayer behaviour, improving risk management and targeting techniques, and sharpening the focus of our audit and investigation resources to further improve the detection and deterrence of these types of non-compliance.
Strong and Modern Core Business
Aggressive tax planning and tax evasion: Aggressive tax planning involves schemes and arrangements that go beyond the intent of the legislation. To combat aggressive tax planning, we will continue to focus on early identification and analysis of schemes, timely audits, measures to increase public awareness, enforcement visibility, recommendation of legislative amendments, and collaboration with tax treaty partners. We will be addressing the issue of aggressive international tax planning, particularly the abusive use of tax havens, through a number of initiatives:
Underground economy: The underground economy is commercial activity that is unreported or under-reported for tax purposes. To combat the underground economy, we will:
GST/HST compliance: Our ongoing program activities seek to prevent improper GST/HST refunds, and to create a legislative and administrative environment that reduces systematic opportunities for fraud. Activities include the following:
Voluntary Disclosures Program: To improve overall program management of the VDP, we will redefine program objectives and performance measurement criteria, review VDP policies and guidelines to improve program consistency in the field, and ensure that the program is fully integrated with CRA compliance activities.
Strengthening capacity: As new responsibilities and increasing business complexity cause the work of the CRA to expand, we must be able to handle a higher work volume and deal with more challenging files. Many improvements to our core capacity will support these goals. We will increase our capacity for policy development and research; both are critical elements of our compliance strategy. We will replace legacy systems with applications and hardware that enable us to better ensure compliance with tax legislation. We will strengthen our relations with other governments to deliver the compliance programs that our clients require.
Specific plans include the following:
Program Priorities | Deliverables | Dates |
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Budgetary Main Estimates – gross (see Financial Table 1) |
The Appeals program activity resolves disputes between the CRA and taxpayers by conducting fair and impartial reviews of our decisions, and by assisting the Department of Justice during any subsequent appeal to the courts. This program activity is responsible for reviewing taxpayers’ contested decisions in the areas of:
In addition, Appeals leads the CRA’s Fairness Initiative, which allows for application of legislative provisions to cancel or waive interest and penalties when taxpayers cannot comply with tax laws because of circumstances beyond their control.
Our objective is for Canadians to continue receiving an impartial and responsive review of contested decisions. As outlined in Agency 2010, we believe that an impartial and responsive dispute resolution process fosters trust in the integrity of Canada’s tax system, and that this in turn helps promote compliance.
Over the planning period, we will improve the CRA’s business intelligence related to our dispute resolution procedures and our response to court challenges. To do this, we will work closely with our partners in the field (e.g., via our regional risk committees) and other government departments (e.g., Justice Canada’s Tax Law Services, and Finance Canada). The aim is to achieve a more co-ordinated appeals posture.
We will also ensure a positive, professional, respectful, and co-operative workplace that stresses the provision of services with integrity, as well as a workplace in which conflicts are managed in a positive and productive manner. We will promote this environment through leadership, appropriate staffing, and conflict management. We will emphasize multi-year human resources planning as we prepare for the move to multi-year planning and resource allocation in 2006-2007.
Our program approach includes a number of actions:
Strong and Modern Core Business
Appeals Vision: We believe that the creation of centres of expertise will ensure that we have the right people in the right place at the right time. Continuous review of our infrastructure will help us improve the quality and timeliness of our program delivery, especially the Appeals Large Files Program.
We will complete the pilot project launched in the Sudbury Tax Centre that is improving workload management, risk identification, and our ability to quickly deal with less complex files while improving our overall timeliness.
Canada Pension Plan and Employment Insurance Program: We will address inefficiencies in the CPP/EI redress process noted in the 2004 report of the Auditor General, and will determine areas of improvement. For this purpose, we will continue with our review of the program together with our partners, including the Agency’s Filing and Remittance Compliance program activity, Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD), and the Department of Justice.
In the short term, we will improve our accountability with HRSD and clarify the roles of our CPP/EI appeals officers and those of ruling officers, to eliminate any duplication of effort. In addition, we will conduct an analysis to determine the actual resource requirements for this program.
Government On-Line: We will move forward with our Government On-Line (GOL) initiatives to support the Agency’s overall approach within the broader government agenda. We will continue to make our Appeals programs more accessible through the ‘My Account’ portal. This will facilitate the redress process when corporations dispute an assessment or determination.
With the overall increase in electronic filing, efficiencies will be gained in the administration of our dispute resolution procedures. These increased efficiencies will also enable us to accept new workloads for various appeals processes as the Agency gains an increased client base.
Integration of Risk Management: We will move beyond the risk management of individual files to integrate Appeals risk management into the overall framework of the CRA and that of our clients in other government departments. Risk will be managed using a “whole of government” approach, ensuring horizontal accountability.
Building on our current risk management foundation, we will renew and re-emphasize risk management at the grassroots level to ensure that all risks are identified as early as possible.
Fairness Provisions Reporting: Across the CRA, we will continue to use monitoring and quality assurance at the program level to ensure consistent delivery of the Fairness Provisions. Public confidence in the Agency will be strengthened as fairness is managed consistently across all CRA programs.
Specifically, we will enhance system capability to facilitate improved data capture and program reporting of amounts forgiven under the Fairness Provisions.
The initiatives associated with maintaining a strong core business show how we plan to improve program delivery for taxpayers. In turn, these enhancements to our Appeals infrastructure will make the use of our platform more attractive to provinces, territories and other clients. We will continue to review best practices of tax administrations in other jurisdictions.
Program Priorities | Deliverables | Dates |
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Budgetary Main Estimates – gross (see Financial Table 1) |
The Benefit Programs activity supports the efforts of federal, provincial, and territorial governments to assist persons with disabilities, families and children, and low- and moderate-income households, and to reduce child poverty. We provide Canadians with income-based benefits, credits and other services that contribute directly to their economic and social well-being. We administer four ongoing federal programs:
In addition, we administer 17 ongoing benefit programs on behalf of the provinces and territories. As well, we deliver one-time payment programs for provinces and the Government of Canada—most recently, the Alberta 2005 Resource Rebate and the federal Energy Cost Benefit payment. We also supply information as authorized by law to federal, provincial, and territorial clients, supporting the administration of their benefit and other income-based programs.
Ongoing Benefit Programs Administered by the CRA on behalf of the Provinces and Territories
Benefit Programs plays a significant role in the government’s Service to Canadians initiative. Our strategic outcome is that eligible families and individuals receive timely and correct benefit payments.
Administration of Benefit Programs is divided into two sub-activities:
Establish Telephone Service Standards/ Internal Performance Targets: Person-to-person telephone service is essential to many benefit recipients, especially those with low incomes who may lack access to the Internet. We will implement a telephone service-level standard for the CCTB. We will establish a new internal performance target for the GST/HST credit after compiling and analyzing sufficient data from the toll-free network implemented in June 2004.
Expand My Account services: While the telephone is the preferred method of contact for many benefit recipients, our accessibility strategy also includes reducing recipients’ need to call by promoting the use of technology; this builds their skills and helps contain our costs. We will make sure that recipients have ready-telephone access to key information during peak call-volume periods close to monthly CCTB and quarterly GST/HST credit payment dates. Our Child and Family Benefits Web site provides answers to common benefit enquiries. Benefit Payments Online, part of My Account, gives recipients a convenient single point of access for information about their benefit accounts. We are exploring the possibility of offering new self-service options. For example, we will assess the feasibility of permitting parents to apply for the CCTB and register their children for the GST/HST credit online.
System modernization: We process millions of payments each year for CCTB and GST/HST credit recipients, including payments under related provincial and territorial benefit and credit programs. Virtually all are issued in a timely and accurate manner. Rebuilding strong core systems that maintain these high-quality services is a multi-year effort. We are developing a modernization strategy for our Individual information returns (T1 returns) identification (IDENT) system to provide for future capacity needs. Other core systems will be assessed subsequently.
Disability Tax Measures Initiative: Under the Disability Tax Measures Initiative, we are beginning to implement the administrative recommendations made in the December 2004 Disability Tax Fairness report. Along with potential legislative changes, implementation of the recommendations (where feasible) will further our ongoing efforts to ensure that persons with disabilities are treated fairly and equitably.
Targeted outreach: We will develop and implement a communication strategy covering all of our benefit programs. This will assist us in maintaining high program enrolment, promoting take-up rates among potential recipients, and increasing awareness of entitlements and obligations among existing recipients.
We will maintain current relationships with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. We will also seek new opportunities to communicate benefit program information to existing and potential recipients (e.g., bookmarks in kits by the Growing Family Corporation for new parents). Inserts in benefit payment mail-outs for existing recipients will highlight program obligations, and materials will be developed to promote benefit take-up among potential recipients.
Compliance Strategy: We will continue to refine our newly-developed compliance strategy for Benefit Programs, with three goals:
We will further develop our validation/controls techniques and monitoring tools to better select accounts for review and maintain overall compliance.
We will fine-tune our case management system to provide the dollar value of the adjustments we generate. This will allow us to measure the impact of our validation programs.
Improve data integrity: Through pilot projects, we will evaluate and implement practices for improving the integrity of data used to assess and measure non-compliance.
The initiatives associated with maintaining a strong core business show how we plan to improve program delivery, while ensuring that the right benefits are delivered only to the right individuals. In turn, by enhancing the CRA’s delivery infrastructure for benefits, we make the use of our platform more attractive to provinces, territories, and other government departments.
The CRA strives to fully engage our client organizations and integrate our efforts with theirs. We regularly consult with our numerous clients, stakeholders, and external agencies. We will create a capacity to promote our services to the provinces, territories, and municipalities. We will pursue opportunities for expanding our operations and offering more programs and services to clients. Our aim is to reduce the overall administrative cost of government to taxpayers by simplifying administration and eliminating duplication, limiting compliance burdens, and delivering higher-quality service.
New Budget 2006 Priority – Delivery of new programs: The CRA will be working in partnership with Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) to deliver the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB). The UCCB is a new benefit of $100 per month to be paid for children under the age of six. It is one of two components of the HRSD Universal Child Care Plan.
Expanding Income Verification services: Under the co-operative Income Verification Program, the federal and provincial/territorial governments exchange data using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) methodology. FTP allows the CRA to release limited taxpayer information, with taxpayer consent, using a secure, two-way, online electronic data exchange. This simplifies the administration of income-tested benefit programs for recipients. Data exchanges for fifteen provincial programs are in production and seven more are in the testing phase. Negotiations are underway to enrol 10 more programs.
Income Verification Program Partnerships – in production using FTP methodology
New channels for exchanging vital statistics information: We will work with other governments to negotiate sharing of vital statistics information; the aim is to ease reporting obligations for benefit recipients and reduce overall costs. Pilot projects will be conducted with two jurisdictions to determine the feasibility of expanding to additional clients.
One-stop information access at Service Canada: We will work with Service Canada, including pilot projects, to determine how common information needs can best be bundled and routed. However, at no time will Service Canada agents deal with account-specific benefit information, respond on behalf of the CRA to specific benefit-related enquiries, or accept payments on behalf of the CRA.
Automate and streamline OAS/GIS: We will work with Human Resources and Social Development to examine extending the exchange of authorized recipient information with File Transfer Protocol methodology to include Old Age Security (OAS) recovery tax and non-resident OAS recovery tax.
Performance Expectations | Indicators | Target |
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Benefit payments are issued on time | ||
Benefit payments are correct | ||
Provinces/territories, and other federal departments rely on CRA as a key service provider |
Program Priorities | Deliverables | Dates |
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Performance Expectations | Indicators | Target |
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Benefit recipients receive timely, accurate, and accessible information | ||
Maintain high program awareness and take-up through effective communications tools | ||
Maintain or increase satisfaction levels of benefit recipients | Evaluation of products by benefit recipients: | |
Meet service standards and internal performance targets | Service Standards | |
Internal performance targets: | ||
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Increase use of self-service options | Range of self-serve options | |
Take-up rates: | ||
Eligibility determination and payment processing are timely and accurate | ||
Meet or exceed service standards and internal performance targets for timely and accurate processing of benefit payments, applications, and account maintenance adjustments | Service Standards | |
Internal performance targets | ||
Timeliness of processing: | ||
Accuracy of processing: | ||
Maintain or increase satisfaction levels of benefit recipients | Satisfaction with service by benefit recipients: | |
Maintain high overall compliance | ||
Growth in the programs and services administered for the provinces, territories, and other federal departments to reduce duplication across all levels of government and to lower the overall cost of program delivery |
1 The change to 75% from our previous target of 80% is consistent with our strategy to offer increased on-line services and reflects resources available for this workload.
The CRA’s Corporate Services provide and maintain the infrastructure for Agency operations, as well as their strategic direction. Both are essential to the delivery of tax and benefit programs.
The Corporate Services program activity includes seven sub-activities:
While each sub-activity plays a distinct role in the CRA, all are interrelated. Together they form the framework that supports and connects the CRA’s program delivery activities. For example, our Compliance Program is delivered by well-trained people (Human Resources) using automated systems (Information Technology) as efficiently as possible (Finance and Administration).
The seven sub-activities take a common approach to provide maximum advantage to the Agency at minimum cost. Together, CRA Corporate Services enable the Tax and Benefit Programs to be effective and efficient.
For the period covered by this report, the Corporate Services program activity will focus on improving the Agency’s infrastructure and building on our governance and accountability regime.
The Agency’s infrastructure—the people who are our major strength, the buildings that house them, as well as the tools and systems that facilitate their work—is the framework for our success in providing service to Canadians. Infrastructure improvements help maintain the Agency’s core business and advance business opportunities.
As we move to implement Agency 2010, we will build on our legislated authorities to provide tax and benefit services to Canadians on behalf of all levels of government. The result will be not only greater efficiency in government operations but greater accountability to Canadians through an open and transparent governance regime.
As an agency, the CRA is responsible for its own HR regime. In the five years since becoming an agency, we have overhauled our HR infrastructure and implemented policies, procedures, systems, and structures that directly support the achievement of the CRA’s business results.
Over the planning period, we will put these changes to use, providing a knowledgeable and skilled workforce that enables our program branches to maintain the strength of their core business and to pursue new business opportunities. We see excellence in human resources management as the foundation for a high-performing organization.
Strong and Modern Core Business and Expand Business Opportunities
To work effectively in our changing business environment, we will develop and implement a comprehensive Workforce Strategy in support of Agency 2010. We will focus on activities that support recruitment and development, knowledge transfer, and retention for core business and business development workers. We will maintain a strong executive cadre through succession management and continued investment in management development programs. As well, the strategy will address the impact of the acquisition of new business, such as the integration of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) collections employees into the CRA.
Our commitment to fairness in the workplace will continue to guide our activities and our strategies during this planning period. In addition, we will implement a new three-year action plan for official languages to ensure that we meet our legal obligations and respect the spirit behind those requirements.
Our Competency-Based HR Management (CBHRM) Framework is the cornerstone of the Agency’s HR regime. We will continue to focus on integrating the CBHRM approach to workforce planning, resourcing and recruitment, training and learning, performance management, and career management. In the short term, we will support managers with the education and tools to complete the introduction of Phase 1 of the Observe and Attest initiative, a competency assessment method that allows managers to assess competencies based on observation of their employees’ on-the-job behaviour. We will also accelerate the use of Pre-Qualification Processes (PQPs) through the implementation of other streamlining initiatives.
These initiatives will help increase the percentage of employees with valid competency results, directly reducing the time required to staff positions.
During this planning period, we will move forward with streamlining and modernizing our job classification system. This includes starting to implement the new Agency Classification Standard (ACS) for Services and Programs (SP) group, which will collapse sixteen classification standards into one to classify SP jobs.
Applying technology to modernize how we do business is key for Human Resources. With eResourcing, applicants will be able to manage their applications online, managers will be able to access applications online, and our Human Resources function will be able to automate the pre-screening of education, area of selection, time of submission, and language prerequisites.
During this planning period, we will continue to invest in the transformation of HR processes and systems, including the completion of the Compensation Service Delivery Renewal Project (CSDRP) and the Employee and Manager Self-Service System (ESS/MSS). This will modernize the key processes that affect compensation.
The significant changes in our HR programs over the past five years were achieved in consultation with our unions. The CRA seeks to further optimize union-management relations and workplace well-being. Through the Union-Management Initiative, we will work to strengthen the relationship between management and unions—based on respect, understanding, and co-operation, with conflicts managed through the use of informal and alternative dispute resolution.
The next three years will see the realization of many of the benefits envisaged for the new Human Resources regime as the CRA continues to be a leader in human resources management in government. We have set clear landmarks to guide us on the next phase of our journey.
To sustain our clients’ trust in our ability to collect revenue and deliver entitlements, the CRA must demonstrate competent stewardship; sound comptrollership; and effective, efficient financial and administrative services.
The CRA Act grants the Agency authority over its general administrative policy, such as for contracting and procurement, and its real property. The delivery of CRA programs is supported by policies and procedures in these areas, and by monitoring of their practice and results. All these are essential to support a well-defined, modern, and high-performing core business capacity.
We will strengthen the Financial Control and Reporting Framework to improve our capacity to monitor expenditures. We will provide our clients with objective assurance that CRA controls supporting collection of tax revenue are appropriate and operate effectively. This increased clarity will demonstrate accountability to our clients and allow us to pursue new business opportunities.
Building on our legislated authority to manage real property, we will leverage the CRA partnership with Public Works and Government Services Canada to fully implement a market-based reimbursing regime business model aimed at meeting CRA’s real property needs.
Finance and Administration Infrastructure
To advance our commitment to effective and efficient administration, we will achieve improvements in our financial management by implementing a standardized nationwide administration. We will also improve performance by expanding our internal service standards, which will ensure greater consistency, transparency, and accountability.
Through consolidated service delivery, additional strategic sourcing, and improved electronic ordering technology, we will sustain and enhance the Agency procurement function, building on our progress since becoming an Agency in 1999 and using to full advantage the administrative authorities in the CRA Act.
We will develop a CRA Project Management Framework that sets a disciplined, common approach to project management across the Agency. We will also pursue the formulation and adoption of a CRA Risk Management Policy. These two initiatives will reinforce decision-making in a governance regime built on accurate and reliable information, and will maintain trust in our operations.
In line with our commitment to protect our people, assets, and client and personal information, we will continue to conduct Compliance and Monitoring Reviews of facilities and systems to ensure that an adequate policy framework is maintained and communicated. In an effort to ensure our continued ability to deliver critical business functions during times of crisis, we will maintain and enhance our Emergency Management Program, including improvements to our business continuity infrastructure.
Building on our successes of the past five years, we will complete implementation of our Sustainable Development Strategy for 2004-2007. The Strategy we are developing for 2007-2010 will push forward with the integration of sustainable development into key program activities, service relationships, and business development opportunities. Additional details can be found in "Appendix E – Sustainable Development Strategy".
A key challenge for the IT program is to maintain the right balance of effort and investment between existing commitments and creating new or additional capacity to respond to the changing business context of Agency 2010, while also addressing pressures such as the ‘enterprising’ of government and the ever-evolving technological environment, and the need to sustain a skilled and engaged workforce. We will continue to identify opportunities for increased efficiencies, while demonstrating agility in support of new Agency challenges.
Strong and Modern Core Business and Expand Business Opportunities
We are committed to strengthening our technical infrastructure and to enhancing our service/product delivery through the following initiatives:
Over the last decade, the CRA has emphasized IT standardization, common infrastructure, and reuse of system components. We will share these strengths and help build the Government of Canada service platform. The Agency will make use of shared government services when there is a clear business case to do so.
CRA is currently providing Corporate Administrative Systems (CAS) and shared IT Infrastructure Services to support Canada Border Services Agency's (CBSA). As the Agency’s long-term business plan does not call for it to continue as a shared service provider to the CBSA, we will continue these services until the transition to a new service provider is complete.
Supporting the CRA as it evolves toward Agency 2010 will be the chief focus of public affairs activity over the next three years. The CRA needs strategic advice, executive services and products in a wide range of areas, including communications, parliamentary affairs, issues management, electronic and print media, and requests under the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act. Through vigorous issues management, the Agency will be able to identify and address emerging issues that could compromise Canadians’ trust in its integrity.
As the CRA continues to evolve as an agency, it will develop and implement a communication strategy in alignment with the future direction of the Agency. We will emphasize the position of the Agency as a service provider in all regions of Canada, and will promote the CRA as a trustworthy, innovative, effective and responsive organization.
The CRA maintains a portfolio of over 5,000 forms and publications, and publishes over 100,000 Web pages annually. We will modernize our publishing function to achieve greater value for money, improve publications planning, and provide sustainable strategic direction.
To improve the Agency’s capacity for sharing information internally and increase the integrity of this information, we will continue our multi-year Intranet Renewal Project. A single, integrated information source will improve the Agency’s capacity to share information internally. In turn, this will support employee needs and Agency goals.
The Canada Revenue Agency’s five-year report, tabled in Parliament in May 2005, notes that the CRA has successfully laid the foundation of an innovative and flexible governance regime. The CRA must continue to evolve in its governance regime and legislative framework to fully exploit its agency status.
We will explore the full realization of the legislated authorities of the Agency and its Board of Management. This review is required to fully exploit the unique flexibilities inherent in the CRA, and to secure support and flexibility in the areas of planning and financial management accountability, including the Management Accountability Framework (MAF). The review will also prepare the Agency for serving new clients and pursuing new business directions.
We will enhance Agency strategic decision-making through a new corporate committee structure.
We will implement higher standards for planning and performance reporting to meet demands for greater accountability and increased transparency on the part of both clients and central agencies. Information and reporting to provinces will be improved, including customized reporting to meet specific needs. Linkages will be strengthened between the Corporate Business Plan, the Annual Report, the CRA’s HR, IT and investment plans, and our performance management system.
More detail on Agency 2010 and our short-term work in this area is provided in Chapter 2.
Strategic Policy and Analysis Capacity
The Agency will continue to build its strategic policy and analysis capacity during the planning period. Key internal and external horizontal initiatives will be advanced, with a focus on Agency 2010. Agency-wide strategic analysis, research, and co-ordination will guide the evolution of governance and support integrated business planning and decision-making.
The Agency Management program sub-activity also includes the provision of legal services within the CRA.
The legal aspects of the CRA’s operations and policies are under a long-standing joint appointment arrangement with Justice Canada. Legal Services provides legal advice and counsel to the Minister, the Commissioner, and the Board of Management for all Agency program activities. It oversees the Agency’s interface with the larger justice service to ensure that the service meets the Agency’s needs.
The aim over the planning period is to develop stronger accountabilities for planning and resourcing in place across the larger justice service. This will ensure a strong and focused national legal infrastructure for the Agency. Discussions are underway on a plan to achieve this result.
The Agency continues to manage relationships with all of the Agency’s clients—provinces, territories, and First Nations. This responsibility includes co-ordinating regional efforts and addressing multilateral issues that affect more than one jurisdiction.
The CRA will concentrate on further developing and implementing its strategy to become the service provider of choice for tax and benefit administration for governments across Canada. This work will be undertaken in conjunction with all areas of the Agency, and will lead to a robust approach to managing and growing the CRA’s client relationships.
In addition, this activity will consolidate recent advances with First Nations by ensuring that substantive discussions occur in areas of concern related to the administration of taxes.
Our corporate audit and evaluation activities support the achievement of the Agency’s strategic goals. They provide the Commissioner, the Board of Management, and senior management of the Agency with independent and objective information, advice, and assurance on the soundness of the Agency’s management framework, and on the effectiveness, efficiency, and value for money of its strategies, programs, and practices.