The majority of Canadian small business owners have given the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) a “C” or lower for its service to small businesses, according to a report released this morning by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
“According to the report, 40% of business owners gave them a D or an F, which is pretty shocking,” said Laura Jones, CFIB’s senior vice-president of research and economics.
Jones added that nearly half of small businesses haven’t seen improvements in the CRA’s service since the CFIB’s last assessment of the situation three years ago.
“What we found is almost half of business owners feel that things are getting worse when it comes to the CRA, so that suggests that, at best, things are the same and at worst [the CRA is] backsliding,” she said.
Jones said the CFIB is calling for a culture change at CRA.
“You have the majority of business owners saying the CRA treats me like I’ve done something wrong when I call – and the majority of business owners desperately want to make sure they are in compliance with all their CRA obligations, and they’re feeling like they’re guilty until they’re proven innocent.”
The CFIB is recommending that the CRA:
- improve customer service;
- improve the training of front-line staff handling SME issues;
- provide basic examples and guidelines for what constitutes compliance and non-compliance;
- implement stronger service standards;
- conduct plain language reviews of key information and communication pieces;
- monitor and publicly report on the customer service performance of CRA agents
- increase accountability of front-line call centre agents;
- provide a mechanism for small business to get written electronic advice from CRA.
- implement impartial third-party reviews of specific disputes;
- improve the voluntary disclosure program;
- measure and publicly report on an ongoing basis the regulatory burden imposed on small business;
- minimize the time spent by SMEs to comply with audits;
- review and cut the fees charged for CRA’s electronic service transactions by financial institutions; and
- stop forcing taxpayers to file electronically.
The CFIB also wants the CRA’s written advice to small businesses to be honoured, even if this advice is later found to be incorrect.
Jenny Wagler
@JennyWagler_BIV