Media Release

Canada Revenue Agency gets poor marks from small business
May 27, 2008

Ottawa – The quality of service provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to owners of small and medium-sized businesses has worsened since 2001, a new survey from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business shows.

Nineteen per cent of business owners say overall service was worse in 2008, compared to 13 per cent in CFIB’s 2004 survey and 11 per cent in 2001. Among tax practitioners, who are also small business owners, a full 52 per cent said service was worse in 2007, compared to 25 per cent in 2004 and 38 per cent in 2001.

“The transformation of the former Revenue Canada into an agency, the CRA, was supposed to create a more efficient and service-oriented organization. Our members tell us that this is not happening,” said Garth Whyte, executive vice-president of CFIB. “In fact, they feel the CRA treats them as guilty until proven innocent, and that’s not good news for our economy.”

Slow service, lack of easily understandable information and “voice mail jail” were the top concerns in the 2008 survey of about 8,271 business owners and 472 tax practitioners who provide services to small business. Treatment by staff, speed of refunds and the CRA website and its electronic services were viewed somewhat positively by respondents.

Thirty-nine per cent of business owners and 65 per cent of tax practitioners said the administrative burden associated with taxes has grown in the past three years.

“Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the announcement of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, but according to our members, there’s not much to celebrate,” said Whyte.

CFIB is calling on the CRA to:

• Clearly define and implement the Taxpayer Bill of Rights;
• Develop an internal culture that seeks to help taxpayers rather than intimidate them;
• Proactively communicate tax policy changes to affected small businesses;
• Develop ways to measure and reduce the tax compliance burden on small business;
• Benchmark and measure customer service performance;
• Ensure audits minimize time requirements for smaller businesses.

Contact: Marie-Danielle Davis, 613-235-2373. For a full copy of the report, visit www.cfib.ca.

CFIB is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses, representing more than 105,000 business owners who employ 1.25 million Canadians and account for $75 billion in GDP.