About This Report

This Benchmark Report is an introductory examination and measurement of the compliance burden imposed on small businesses by the CRA. It will help to identify areas where the CRA could reduce the compliance burden and where further work may be required.

It provides a baseline that will serve to measure the progress of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in reducing the compliance burden for small business. The report is based on the Performance Measurement Framework for Compliance Burden Reduction which is a result of a commitment made in the Report of the Canada Revenue Agency's Action Task Force on Small business Issues, published in 2007.

The first and second sections of this report explain the direct measures used by the CRA for assessing the compliance costs, in terms of time and money, faced by small businesses. Section three focuses on the indirect measures used for determining the impact of legislative complexity of the compliance process. The fourth section deals with the indirect measures for evaluating the quantity and quality of CRA services available for these businesses.

Various data sources have been cited in this report, including published CRA performance information, such as the Annual Report to Parliament, and the results of surveys conducted by Statistics Canada. For several of the indicators, supplementary information from external studies has been included to provide a broader context in which to analyze the measures presented.

This report establishes benchmarks for all indicators in the performance measurement framework. These benchmarks provide the basis for comparison over time, allowing the CRA to report on the level of compliance burden, its impact on businesses, and the results of our initiatives to reduce the burden.