Tax Time – CRA Service Improvements

Hooray!  It’s not every day there is good news coming from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), but they’re surprising the country with a couple of technological advances that will benefit Canadians during the busy tax season.

1. A better phone experience

The CRA is playing catch up and has finally introduced a telephone system that:

1. a) informs the caller about estimated wait times and b) gives the caller the option to wait for the next available agent, hang up and call again later, or request a call-back. This is a far cry better than the former “busy signal” or incredibly unhelpful and frustrating “we’re sorry, please try again later” message.  The new system should also help one get through to the right agent depending on their needs and questions; although time will tell whether this feature will help solve service issues.

1. There’s an app for that – paying your taxes

Beginning later this month, taxpayers will be able to pay their taxes through the MyCRA app using pre-authorized debit, Interact, Debit Mastercard, or Visa Debit.  During a time when most bills are paid using online payment functions, this is a welcomed improvement for many.

Hopefully these subtle but overdue improvements will help Canadians everywhere during tax season.