A telephone tax filing system launched in 2018 by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) was unsuccessful, says a federal report, as uptake for the program was less than one percent.
The report, obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, noted that out of 30 million taxpayers who submitted their annual returns, 27.6 million have done so electronically, while 2.4 million have filed by paper, and only 61,000 have used the “File My Return” automated phone service. Costs related to the phone service were not disclosed.
The service, announced by Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier in January 2018, allows individual taxpayers with low or fixed incomes unchanged from year to year to file their returns by phone by “answering a series of short questions” and “without the need for any calculations or paper forms to fill out.”
“Participants still chose to file their taxes using other methods,” said the report “File My Return Qualitative Research.” The findings were drawn from five focus groups. The CRA had paid $47,161 for the report by Quorus Consulting Group Inc, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Many are not interested in filing their own tax return out of concern for making a mistake such as missing out on tax credits,” the researchers wrote. “Some already use free services such as a community volunteer program or have a family member or friends prepare their taxes.”
Concerns of Mistakes
The report said that the CRA wanted the research conducted to “understand potential reasons for the low uptake.”“Some concerns were raised including worries about making mistakes and whether the system retained the incorrect information, and how they could change the incorrect information or start over,” the researchers wrote.
“Others felt they would not have a ‘paper trail’ or proof they had filed their taxes despite being informed the service provides a verification number at the end.”
In 2012, the CRA cancelled a similar TeleFile system that allowed phone filing. The agency said at the time the usage of the service declined on average, by 10 percent every year.
Literacy
In 2016, Lebouthillier testified before the Standing Committee on Finance, saying there is a need to simplify tax return forms because of the number of Canadians who are “functionally illiterate.”“In Canada, 51 percent of the population is functionally illiterate,” she said. “These are people who have trouble understanding our forms, and that’s why it is so important to simplify forms with the auto-fill service.”
“To respond to the public’s needs the agency has added resources to its telephone service and is improving upon the clarity of correspondence with Canadians,” she added.
“Canada continues to rank first among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the proportion of college and university graduates.”
