Your organization’s responsibilities
Responsibilities
Before registering, it is important for organizations to understand their responsibilities when participating in the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP).
As a participating organization, you are responsible for:
- planning and hosting your tax clinics free of charge
- recruiting volunteers
- sending your tax clinic schedules to your CVITP officer
- ensuring that tax clinics are held in a secure and private environment
- ensuring that taxpayer information is kept secure and confidential
- distributing the tax software keys to your volunteers
- sharing your CVITP Organization Identification Number (COIN) with volunteers who are affiliated with your organization
- validating police records checks of your volunteers (for the CVITP, police records checks are valid as long as they’ve been issued within the past three years)
- ensuring that volunteers do not share or use someone else’s EFILE number
- ensuring that your volunteers have received their approval email before they start volunteering at your tax clinic
- ensuring that volunteers affiliated with your organization conduct themselves in a professional and respectful manner
- ensuring that volunteers affiliated with your organization meet the CVITP requirements that apply to their roles
- ensuring that volunteers affiliated with your organization register for the training sessions offered by the program
- ensuring that taxpayers served at your clinics are respected regardless of race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, or religion
- ensuring that volunteers delete all electronic documents containing taxpayer information no later than 48 hours after successful transmission to and acceptance by the CRA. If you are offering the ReFILE service, you can keep the documents for 28 days.
Limits of volunteer assistance
In addition to their organizational responsibilities, participating organizations are expected to support volunteers in understanding the scope and limits of their role.
The CVITP supports simple tax returns only, and volunteers should only complete tax returns they feel comfortable preparing based on the information provided by the taxpayer.
Volunteers are not expected to answer complex tax questions. If a taxpayer needs information that is beyond a volunteer’s expertise, they should be directed to visit Contact the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Compliance with the CRA
Participation in the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) is subject to program terms and conditions and organizations must comply with these requirements to host free tax clinics.
The CRA may suspend or remove an organization from the program if it fails to meet its responsibilities, violates program terms and conditions, or engages in conduct that could reflect adversely on the program.
CVITP organizations are also responsible for ensuring that their affiliated volunteers comply with the program’s terms and conditions of use, meet their responsibilities, and immediately inform a CVITP officer of any non‑compliance.
Organization program terms
Under the program terms, organizations must:
- host free tax clinics and refuse any monetary rewards that may be offered to their organization for the preparation and filing of an individual's income tax return
- ensure that volunteers affiliated with their organization meet the CVITP requirements that apply to their roles
- ensure that volunteers use the CVITP tax software to only prepare returns for taxpayers eligible for the CVITP
- ensure that volunteers never use CVITP tax software for monetary gain or any other form of remuneration
- ensure that volunteers transmit each return to the CRA immediately upon completion, when possible
- ensure that volunteers affiliated with their organization comply with the terms and conditions of the CVITP and meet their responsibilities
- inform a CVITP officer of any non-compliance immediately
- meet the responsibilities of organizations as outlined by the program
Organization conditions of use
Under the conditions of use, organizations must:
- ensure that each taxpayer signs Form TIS60, Community Volunteer Income Tax Program - Taxpayer Authorization, and have it returned to the taxpayer once completed
- report to the CVITP officers any loss or unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information that may have occurred under the CVITP
- allow CVITP officers to share the contact information of their organization with volunteers who would like to be affiliated with their organization
- delete all saved electronic copies of taxpayers' returns and any other related electronic documents within 48 hours (or 28 days if they offer the ReFILE service) after the returns have been transmitted and accepted by the CRA
- allow CVITP officers to share the contact information of their organization with other areas within the CRA for administrative purposes, including a voluntary survey about the program
As per the conditions of use, organizations must not:
- use or disclose information provided by taxpayers for any purpose other than preparing their tax returns
- copy the CVITP tax software or allow copies of it to be made
- use, without authorization of CVITP officers, any federal government logos to create documents or content promoting tax clinics on their organization’s website, social media, or any other advertising platform
Summary of steps when becoming a CVITP organization
This checklist provides an overview of the steps for hosting a free tax clinic. You will find full instructions in the training and support materials that the CRA provides to CVITP registered organizations and volunteers.
