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Annual Report 2025-2026: Overview
In Pursuit of Better Service: Taxpayers deserve more
This report urges the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to fix delays, improve transparency, and support vulnerable taxpayers.
Annual Report 2025–2026 (Transcript)
A message from the Ombudsperson
"The past year has highlighted a truth that Canadians already know well: an accessible, timely and fair tax administration is essential to public trust. Our tax system is based on voluntary filing. However, for many taxpayers, their interactions with the CRA are not optional: they are necessary, serious and often urgent. When service falls short, the repercussions are clear. This reality is at the heart of our mandate, and it guided our work throughout 2025–2026."
Learn moreThis year, like every other year, was filled with both achievements and challenges, but our Office is always open to adapting. We faced the biggest backlog of unprocessed complaints than we had seen in recent years, but we tackled it as a team and moved employees from other areas to help. This meant that by September 2025, we acknowledged receipt of complaints in a timelier manner, and by the end of the year we contacted complainants within five business days after receiving their complaint over 95% of the time.
Top trends
Return processing and adjustments
Collections
CRA Service Feedback
CRA
Accounts
Our Recommendations
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommended modernizing CRA tools, publicly reporting processing times by Fall 2026, and engaging stakeholders on digital service changes. Taxpayers should get unrestricted callback options by Fall 2027 and expanded live chat by October 2028. The CRA’s AI strategy must support vulnerable groups, and automatic tax filing should cover all simple tax situations, not just low-income individuals.
Recommendations in this annual report are made to the Minister of Finance and National Revenue and the Chair of the CRA’s Board of Management.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA:
- modernize the Check CRA processing times tool on Canada.ca to improve usability, intuitiveness, and information; and
- improve the Progress tracker in CRA accounts so taxpayers can rely on the target completion date and are made aware of changes to that date.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA publicly report its current processing time performance against all of its service standards monthly or quarterly starting Fall 2026.
The Taxpayers Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA proactively engage key stakeholders who may be affected or who could provide valuable feedback to inform the development of digital enhancements or changes that directly impact service to taxpayers.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA provide taxpayers with the opportunity to request a callback without the need to call a contact centre first and to not limit callbacks to specific topics by Fall 2027.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the CRA expand its live online chat service with a CRA agent to My Business Account and Represent a Client by October 2028.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that, as part of the CRA’s AI strategy, it makes sure to meet the needs of vulnerable populations so that they are treated fairly.
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson recommends that the Minister of Finance and National Revenue expand eligibility for automatic tax filing to allow all taxpayers in a simple tax situation, not just low-income individuals, to access pre-filled tax returns in CRA accounts.
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Our statistics
| 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calls to our enquiries line* | 10,312 | 7,104 | 13,543 | 11,350 | 8,826 |
| Complaints received | 3,847 | 2,191 | 2,833 | 2,796 | 3,558 |
| Urgent requests sent to the CRA** | 1,746 | 384 | 562 | 418 | 524 |
* Starting in June 2025 we began only providing a callback service for taxpayers who need additional assistance beyond what we provide through our automated telephone messaging.
** We send urgent requests to the CRA when there are compelling circumstances in a complaint.
Learn moreExplore the report
Browse key sections and highlights from this year’s report.