First Report of Canada Revenue Agency Taxpayers' Ombudsman :CRA SOTW
Alan Baggett
Saturday, 19 December 2009 The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn,
Minister of National Revenue and Minister of State (Agriculture and
Agri-Food), announced at a media teleconference today that the first
annual report of Canada's Taxpayers' Ombudsman has been tabled in
Parliament.
During its first full year of operation, the Office of the Taxpayers'
Ombudsman responded to nearly 5,000 enquiries, opened more than 1,000
files, and investigated over 500 individual complaints relating to CRA
service.
"Fair treatment and professional service are central to our
Government's ability to sustain Canada's prosperity," said Minister
Blackburn. "The Taxpayers' Ombudsman provides an added measure of
assurance that the Canada Revenue Agency treats all taxpayers with
fairness and respect, in accordance with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights."
According to the Annual Report 2008-2009 of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman,
the CRA recognized errors with respect to certain taxpayers, released
seized bank accounts, cancelled penalties and interest, changed
internal policies and procedures, and suspended collection activities
as a result of interventions by the Office of the Taxpayers'
Ombudsman.
"In addition to investigating and resolving individual complaints from
taxpayers, I consulted with stakeholders across the country to
identify ongoing issues and raised awareness of the Taxpayer Bill of
Rights and the role of the Ombudsman," added the Taxpayers' Ombudsman,
Mr. J. Paul Dube.
"The Taxpayers' Ombudsman has demonstrated an understanding of the
challenges faced by taxpayers when trying to settle disputes and a
practical appreciation for the size and complexity of the task the CRA
faces in processing some 24 million individual tax returns and
approximately 1.6 million corporate returns each year," said Minister
Blackburn. "Already, the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman has shown
its potential to help the Canada Revenue Agency improve its service to
Canadians. I want to express sincere thanks to the Ombudsman and his
staff for their work during this first year of operations."
The Taxpayers' Ombudsman is responsible for ensuring that the CRA
respects the service rights outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
In this regard, the Ombudsman conducts impartial and independent
reviews of service related complaints about the CRA, facilitates
taxpayer access to assistance from the CRA, identifies and reviews
systemic and emerging service related issues within the CRA that have
a negative impact on taxpayers, and makes recommendations to the
Minister of National Revenue on CRA service-related matters.
The Taxpayers' Ombudsman's annual report can be found online at
www.taxpayersrights.gc.ca/rprt-nnl-eng.html
This might be the most interesting section of the report:
http://www.taxpayersrights.gc.ca/rprts/2008-2009/rprt-nnl07-eng.html
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The CRA SOTW Library is at http://canada.revenue.agency.angelfire.com
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Alan Baggett – Tax Collector’s Bible