Annual Report of the Office of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Ombudsman (2017)

Under subsection 9(2) of Order in Council P.C. 2007-0828, the Ombudsman is required to submit to the Minister and the Chair of the Board of Management before December 31 of each year an annual report on the activities of the Office for the preceding fiscal year. The Minister tables the annual report in each House of Parliament. Under subsection 9(3), the Ombudsman publishes the annual report as soon as it is tabled by the Minister. During the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the officers conducted research on a number of identified systemic issues. This resulted in the completion of a systemic report with recommendations, notifying the Minister of their intention to open a new examination, and preliminary research on a number of other issues. During the 2016-2017 fiscal year, the Ombudsman identified the following as the most frequently raised systemic issues, either through the submission of taxpayer complaints or telephone calls: Inconsistent/incorrect information from the CRA, lack of clarity in the CRA’s correspondence, Issues with debt collection programs, delays in processing income tax and benefit returns, taxpayers having difficulties providing proof of their eligibility for the Canada child benefit, difficulties reaching the CRA via telephone and delays in processing adjustment requests.