Helping Taxpayers Meet Their Obligations

The vast majority of Canadians are willing to comply and pay their taxes without our intervention. This is evident in the fact that the majority of taxpayers file returns on time, register and remit when required, and report complete and accurate information. Maintaining taxpayers' trust in our operations ensures that the voluntary self-assessment system functions properly and that non-compliance is kept to a minimum. We believe the majority of taxpayers will voluntarily comply with the law if they are treated fairly and have the information and quality services they need to meet their obligations.

Our objective is to inform taxpayers of their obligations, and make it as easy as possible for them to comply. We help taxpayers by:

• providing outreach and assistance;
• offering innovative and secure services;
• harmonizing tax administration; and
• reducing the compliance burden for small businesses.

Providing Outreach and Assistance

Understanding Canada's tax system is the first step toward compliance. It is important for a taxpayer to know how to meet their tax obligations, as well as understand why paying taxes is important to the economic and social well-being of Canadians. Two of our outreach initiatives help build this understanding:

• The Teaching Taxes Program introduces high school and post-secondary students to Canada's tax system and teaches them how to prepare a basic income tax and benefit return.
• The Responsible Citizenship and Canada's Tax System learning initiative teaches high school students the value of tax compliance and the threat to society posed by the underground economy.

We understand that fulfilling tax requirements can be complex. For this reason, we provide targeted assistance and offer numerous free events and seminars to entrepreneurs and small business owners. In 2006-2007, we provided over 1,000 outreach events to more than 54,000 businesses.

To promote compliance with income tax legislation and regulations for registered charities, we deliver educational information sessions called Roadshows. These sessions, which are open to all registered charities, provide attendees with information on bookkeeping and record keeping, receipting, tax planning schemes, how to prepare for an audit, and sanctions.

We also communicate proactively to help taxpayers understand how to protect themselves against tax schemes. Our Tax Alert website contains information on a variety of tax-related issues (www.cra.gc.ca/alert). Recent alerts have focused on unsolicited emails and phone calls, tax shelter schemes, and the debunking of common tax myths.

Offering Innovative and Secure Services

Canadians demand service options that are fast, efficient, convenient, and secure, and they want access to the right information. Our goal is to facilitate compliance by making service faster, providing easier access to information, and protecting the privacy of confidential information.

Although we continue to offer traditional forms of service, the best opportunity to improve the services we offer to Canadians is through electronic services, which also provide the most economical means of reaching the greatest number of people. The CRA assists individual and business tax filers by promoting self-service through our Web site. We offer services that enable Canadians to file their income tax returns electronically using one of three e-filing options: TELEFILE, EFILE, or NETFILE. We also offer a multitude of electronic services for businesses including filing returns (for example, GST/HST, Corporation Income Tax, and Information Returns), registering a business, making payments, or requesting certain financial actions on their accounts.

Keeping personal information secure is key to maintaining the trust of Canadians. We are committed to ensuring that personal and financial information is secure on our website and in our computers. Our encryption technology and security procedures protect the personal information of Canadians at all times.

Simplifying Tax Administration

The Government of Canada has been working to harmonize tax and benefits administration across the country to make it easier for Canadians to comply with their obligations and receive their entitlements. Having the CRA administer tax and benefit programs for federal, provincial, territorial, and First Nations governments simplifies participation in the tax system and increases the competitiveness of the Canadian economy.

Some of the benefits of harmonization under the CRA include:

• better service because individuals and businesses have to contact only one organization for information related to a number of tax and benefit programs;
• a reduction in the compliance burden on individuals and businesses, through the integration of information requirements; and
• a reduction in the cost of administration for our clients, through greater economies of scale and the elimination of duplicated activities.

In 2006, the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada agreed to have the CRA administer Ontario's corporate income tax beginning in 2009. This agreement will save the Province of Ontario millions of dollars annually in administrative costs. Businesses will also benefit by having a single tax form, a single tax collector, and a single set of income tax rules. This means that businesses will be able to spend more time operating their business and focus on succeeding in the global marketplace.

The CRA has also taken action to simplify tax administration by reducing the reporting and remittance requirements for small businesses. In 2006, the Minister of National Revenue established the Action Task Force on Small Business that consisted of representatives from the public and private sectors. The Action Task Force's March 2007 report, Helping Small Businesses by Reducing the Compliance Burden, identifies concrete actions to be undertaken by the CRA to reduce the compliance burden on small businesses (www.cra.gc.ca/atfreport). These actions focus on three areas:

• simplifying, improving, and, where appropriate, reducing the frequency of small business interactions with the CRA;
• improving how and when the CRA communicates with small businesses; and
• making burden reduction systemic within the CRA by measuring the burden, and reporting on burden reduction efforts.