Canada Revenue Agency Complaints Hit Three-Year High Amid Service Failures
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) recorded its highest number of complaints in three years during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, with taxpayers reporting widespread problems including incomplete and inaccurate information from contact center agents, excessive wait times, and significant processing delays.
Complaints Surge 27 Percent Year-Over-Year
According to the annual report from the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson (OTO), the total number of complaints about the CRA reached 3,558 in 2025-2026, a 27 percent increase from the 2,796 complaints received in 2024-2025. The report identified the top five areas of concern raised by taxpayers, with the quality of information provided by contact center agents ranking as the most prominent issue.
“The key concerns we heard from complainants related to the information provided by contact center agents,” the report stated. “Many taxpayers who were able to reach the CRA reported receiving incomplete, inaccurate or unclear information.”
Contact Center Performance Under Scrutiny
The complaints about contact center agents are not new. In October 2025, the Auditor General of Canada released a report on contact center service quality that found the CRA’s answers to auditors’ questions about individual taxes were correct only 17 percent of the time. The report also revealed that only 9 percent of an agent’s overall performance rating was based on accuracy and completeness, while 45 percent was based on adherence to schedules and call turnaround time.
Schedule adherence refers to how closely an agent followed their preset schedule, including logging in and out of the computer and notifying their manager when calls delayed their breaks.
Excessive Wait Times and Call Redirections
Many taxpayers reported being unable to access assistance due to excessive wait times or difficulty entering the call queue. The CRA has a policy of redirecting callers to its automated services if they exceed an average of 30 minutes. From April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025, the CRA transferred approximately 8.6 million calls to automated services.
One anonymous service user who complained to the OTO said: “I keep calling the CRA’s main inquiry number but the message I get is that all agents are helping other callers and I can only use the automated FAQ service.”
When the CRA announced a 100-day service improvement plan in September 2025, it acknowledged that it had answered only 35 percent of unique callers during the period from June 30 to July 4, 2025.
Processing Delays Exceed Published Standards
Another major concern involved delays in processing income tax and benefit returns that exceeded the CRA’s published service standards. The report noted that the CRA was taking up to 50 weeks to process complex T1 adjustments, well above its service standard of 20 weeks.
Earlier this month, Taxpayers’ Ombudsman François Boileau launched an investigation into delays experienced by taxpayers making complex changes to their income tax returns, including multi-year tax returns, bankruptcies, and tax returns of deceased taxpayers.
Account Access and Collection Concerns
Issues accessing CRA accounts were also among the top five concerns. Complainants expressed disappointment that it was difficult to regain access to accounts containing important tax documents and correspondence after suspension.
Taxpayers also alleged that the CRA did not adequately consider their individual circumstances when taking collection action, while others reported not receiving responses from the CRA’s service feedback program within published service standards.
Staffing Cuts and the Push for Automation
The report referenced figures from the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat showing that the CRA laid off 3,725 workers in the past year. The OTO addressed this factor and recommended that the CRA adopt task automation more quickly to address job losses.
“The federal government wants to spend less on its operations to invest more in people and businesses. Therefore, the CRA must accelerate automation to not only achieve cost savings, but also to ensure that delays in providing the services taxpayers expect are reduced,” the report said.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government released its first budget in November 2025, stating that the federal public service would see a reduction of approximately 40,000 jobs by the end of the 2028-2029 financial year.
Ombudsman Calls for Urgent Action
In a statement accompanying the latest report, Taxpayers’ Ombudsman François Boileau emphasized the seriousness of the situation. “For many taxpayers, their interactions with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) are not optional: they are necessary, serious and often urgent. When performance fails, the implications are clear.”
The National Post has reached out to the CRA for comment.
