CRA Claims Improvement: But Is That So?

Geoff Currier and Evelyn Jacks

Another tax season is in the books and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is patting itself on the back for its work in processing close to 30 million tax returns. Its May 7 news release headline reads: Canadians experience improved service delivery and responsiveness from the CRA this tax season. But who are the real heroes of tax season? Let’s drill down on the facts.

Let’s start with what all that service costs.  According to a report from Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne: “In 2025–26, total planned spending (including internal services) for the CRA is $10,375,216,596 and total planned full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) is 50,804.” By comparison, the Internal Revenue Service in the United States employs a staff of about 90.000 for a country with ten times Canada’s population. Digitization should have helped bring down our costs – a remarkable 95.6% of returns are now filed online – all to help speed up service delivery.

Tax Season Stats: As of May 10, 29.7 million tax returns were filed, but there are still millions of returns to come, based on last year’s 33.4 million returns. About 1.3 million returns were still filed using paper. The increased use of EFile is a powerful indication that you and your colleagues as tax professionals are more important than ever in helping Canadians navigate an increasingly complex tax system. Canadians are going the route of EFile services. 

There are still about three million returns which will be composed of those that will be filed late this year along with your clients who are required to file by June 15 for their unincorporated businesses. If you have clients who owe money and have not yet filed, please remind them that CRA charges a late filing fee of 5% plus 1% per month for 12 months, as well as interest on the amount owed at the prescribed rate plus 4%. Those fees increase if you’re more than one year behind.  

Unfortunately, the converse is not true. If your client is owed a refund, interest is paid, but only from the date of filing and then at only 2% above the prescribed rate. Refunds have been issued to some 15 million Canadians with an average refund of $2,282. 

The Startling Facts – Value and Service. Based on financial reports from the period, the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) total planned spending for the 2015-2016 fiscal year was approximately $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion for the 26 Million returns filed. Actual spending was just over $4 Billion, and the actual human resource component was an easy-to-remember number: 37,577 people. So, the HR component at CRA has increased by 35% and our costs have increased 150%, while the number of returns filed increased 27%.

Call Volume. The CRA says it handled 120,000 calls per day this season and answered 75% of them. When it comes to CRA steering us towards digital services, 23 million taxpayers have a My Account, allowing them to access their tax information. Collectively tax practitioners handled millions of calls, too, often because clients couldn’t navigate My Account, or CRA assessments were simply incorrect. Anecdotally, practitioners across Canada have told Knowledge Bureau Report they estimate their commitment of time dealing with CRA issues for clients has increased over the years; some saying that’s gone from 10% to 25% of their time.   

Help for Lower Income Filers: The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) has processed more than 480,000 returns for those unable to pay for their forms to be filed. The government plans to increase funding for some organizations over the next three years to bolster this service. As of May 2026, eligible organizations receive funding based on a new model: a base amount ($100 for 10-49 returns or $400 for 50+ returns) plus $5 for every federal tax return filed, up to a maximum of $20,000. Eligible organizations can apply for funding for the 2026 season until June 30, 2026.

SimpleFile Gets a Failing Grade, So Far. Unfortunately, the uptake for the SimpleFile service has been weak. Only 73,00 tax returns were handled by this service. This is a free service provided by CRA which allows lower income Canadians to file their taxes over the phone. The challenge with SimpleFile is communicating its existence to those who would stand to benefit from it. If a person does not have a MyAccount, cannot afford a tax professional or is unfamiliar with the CVITP, that individual will likely not even be aware of the SimpleFile option. 

Your Observations: One veteran tax professional tells the Knowledge Bureau, “I avoid calling whenever possible and when I do call, I rarely find the help I am looking for. I personally feel that there have been a few improvements but (there’s) also much more room for improvement. The pilot program they launched for tax professionals worked well the first time I used it but has been inaccessible every time I wanted to use it since then.” So no improvement there.

The Bottom Line: The real heros of tax season? Well, that’s you and your clients who embraced the need to file a complex tax return and the unfamiliar and often wonky digitization forced upon the difficult process. 

As CRA moves steadily towards a system which relies almost entirely on online communication, you can expect more glitches. Accounts have been hacked, which is a major concern. As well, the MyAccount system is not functioning at peak efficiency with many taxpayers unable to access their MyAccount. In short – CRA’s cheery headline may have been a year or two premature.

Learn more about news to help you continue to be the advisor your clients trust with knowledge and skill at the May 27 CE Summit – a great way to build your business and your referrals, too.

Be sure to check out Real Tax News with Evelyn Jacks and Friends wherever you listen to podcasts.