Amid a slew of recent efforts aimed at cracking down on tax evasion, the federal government stepped up efforts to ensure that Canadian taxpayers are treated fairly by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) by enshrining a new right allowing taxpayers to complain about the CRA without fear of retribution.
The government announced the addition of a new right to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, pledging that “if taxpayers lodge a service complaint or request a formal review, they can be confident that they will be treated impartially, receive the benefits, credits, and refunds to which they are entitled and pay no more and no less than what is required by law.”
The Taxpayers’ Ombudsman, J. Paul Dubé, notes that, while there is no evidence that taxpayers have suffered reprisal by the CRA, he has heard that taxpayers “would sometimes hesitate to lodge a complaint for fear of being treated differently afterward.”
To address this fear, the ombudsman recommended that a new right be added to ensure Canadians are confident they will be treated fairly.
“We are pleased to welcome this evolution of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights,” said Dubé. “Although we work at arm’s-length, the CRA and our office have collaborated well to advance taxpayer fairness. The addition of this new right to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is an important step forward in providing Canadians with assurances that they will be treated impartially, and, if they feel this is not the case, that they will have effective avenues of redress available to them.”