Canada's Taxpayers' Ombudsperson, Mr. François Boileau, has released his annual report, In Pursuit of Better Service: Taxpayers Deserve More, which was tabled Friday in the House of Commons by Mr. Ryan Turnbull, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and to the Secretary of State (Canada Revenue Agency and Financial Institutions).
The report provides an overview of the activities of the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson (OTO) between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026. It details how the OTO influenced service improvements at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) by reviewing complaints as well as systemic and emerging issues. It also includes seven recommendations to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and the Chair of the CRA's Board of Management to improve the CRA's service to Canadians.
Compared to the last three fiscal years, this year the OTO saw a surge in complaints. The report highlights how we were able to adapt and reduce the biggest backlog of unprocessed complaints we had seen in recent years through resource management and streamlined operations.
2025-2026 report highlights:
Recommendations
The Taxpayers' Ombudsperson recommends:
1. (…) that the CRA:
- modernize the Check CRA processing times tool on Canada.ca to improve usability, intuitiveness, and information; and
- improve the Progress tracker in CRA accounts so taxpayers can rely on the target completion date and are made aware of changes to that date.
2. (…) that the CRA publicly report its current processing time performance against all of its service standards monthly or quarterly starting Fall 2026.
3. (…) that the CRA proactively engage key stakeholders who may be affected or who could provide valuable feedback to inform the development of digital enhancements or changes that directly impact service to taxpayers.
4. (…) that the CRA provide taxpayers with the opportunity to request a callback without the need to call a contact centre first and to not limit callbacks to specific topics by Fall 2027.
5. (…) that the CRA expand its live online chat service with a CRA agent to My Business Account and Represent a Client by October 2028.
6. (…) that , as part of the CRA's AI strategy, it makes sure to meet the needs of vulnerable populations so that they are treated fairly.
7. (…) that the Minister of Finance and National Revenue expand eligibility for automatic tax filing to allow all taxpayers in a simple tax situation, not just low-income individuals, to access pre-filled tax returns in CRA accounts.
Trends in complaints
1. Contact centres: The most prominent areas of concern that we heard about from complainants involved the information provided by contact centre agents. Many taxpayers who succeeded in reaching the CRA reported receiving information that was incomplete, inaccurate, or unclear. Others indicated that they were unable to access assistance due to excessive wait times or difficulties entering the call queue.
2. Income tax and benefit return processing and adjustments: A significant number of issues we heard about related to delays in processing income tax and benefit returns that exceeded the CRA's published service standards, with delays in processing T1 adjustment requests at the top. A major contributing factor was that the CRA was taking up to 50 weeks to process complex T1 adjustments, well above its service standard of 20 weeks.
3. Collection action: Taxpayers alleged that the CRA did not adequately consider their individual circumstances when taking collection actions. In many cases, they stated that these situations resulted in financial hardship, leading our Office to make urgent requests to the CRA.
4. The CRA's Service Feedback Program: Complainants took issue with the delays they experienced with the CRA's Service Feedback Program. They indicated that they did not receive responses within the program's published service standards. The CRA acknowledged that there were delays caused by an increase in complaints and indicated that many submissions highlight challenges with its contact centre wait times, the disability tax credit (DTC) process, and T1 adjustment request timelines. Therefore, the CRA wrote on Canada.ca that it is aware of, and actively working to improve, these areas.
5. CRA accounts: Many complainants took issue with not being able to access their CRA accounts, which they needed to access to view vital tax documents and correspondence. Complainants expressed frustration that it was difficult to regain access to their accounts after being locked out.
Background information
