Canada Revenue Agency Contact Centres Under Fire After Auditor General’s Review: Accuracy, Wait Times, and the Fix-It Plan

A scathing review released Tuesday, October 21 (ET) puts a fresh spotlight on Canada Revenue Agency contact centres, finding poor answer quality, long waits, and staffing that doesn’t match call volumes. The audit concludes that callers seeking help with personal taxes received accurate responses far less often than expected, while complex business questions fared no better. In response, the Canada Revenue Agency outlined immediate service fixes and defended longer-term modernization already underway.

What the Audit Says About CRA Contact Centres

• Answer quality: For individuals, accurate responses landed only a small share of the time, with error rates unacceptably high on core topics like deductions, credits, and filing obligations.

• Consistency: Results varied widely by month and centre, with some periods showing especially weak performance on “quality help” metrics.

• Access and wait times: High abandonment rates and lengthy queues persisted through peak tax windows, and callback systems failed to absorb surges.

• Staffing vs. demand: The audit urges the Agency to align staffing with actual call patterns, including evenings and late-peak periods when tax filers try to resolve issues after work.

While the audit acknowledges incremental improvements since earlier reviews, it characterizes overall contact-centre service as falling short of reliability standards Canadians should expect.

CRA’s Immediate Response: A 100-Day Service Improvement Plan

The Canada Revenue Agency said it has launched a 100-day plan running from September 2 to December 11, 2025, focused on practical steps that reduce call pressure and improve first-contact resolution:

• Self-serve “Register again” (live as of Oct. 20): A new path lets locked-out users regain access to online accounts without phoning, cutting a major driver of calls.

• Triage and routing tweaks: Updated decision trees steer complex questions to experienced agents and shorten loops for routine items like benefit payment dates and address changes.

• Knowledge-base refresh: Playbooks and on-screen guidance are being rewritten for plain language and cross-checked against current legislation to curb wrong answers.

• Peak staffing shifts: Overtime and evening/weekend coverage are being expanded during high-volume windows.

• Quality controls: More live monitoring, post-call scoring, and targeted coaching for topics that repeatedly trip agents up.

The Agency also reiterated its broader plan to move simpler tasks online so contact centres can focus on edge cases that truly require person-to-person help.

Why “Revenue Canada” Phone Lines Are So Stretched

Several structural pressures have collided:

1. Policy churn: Frequent adjustments to credits, payment timelines, and filing rules create moving targets for both taxpayers and agents.

2. Identity and security steps: Stronger verification protects accounts but generates more lockouts and recovery calls when credentials are lost.

3. Complex benefits landscape: Interactions between federal and provincial programs raise the stakes for precise advice—and lengthen average handle time.

4. Seasonality: Filing season volatility still overwhelms queue systems despite virtual hold and callback features.

Together, these factors keep Revenue Canada phone demand elevated even as digital services expand.

What Will Change for Callers Next

If the 100-day plan sticks, Canadians should notice three things in the coming weeks:

• Fewer “please call us” dead ends: More account-access fixes happen online, sparing a phone queue.

• Shorter paths to specialists: Complex topics—capital gains timing, benefit eligibility edge cases, small-business remittances—should reach higher-tier agents faster.

• Clearer answers: Refreshed scripts and knowledge articles aim to reduce contradictory guidance between agents and repeat calls on the same file.

Metrics to Watch

To judge whether Canada Revenue Agency contact centres are improving, track:

• Answer accuracy on individual and business tax questions (the core weakness flagged by the audit).

• Average speed of answer and abandonment rates during peak hours.

• First-contact resolution (fewer callbacks, fewer transfers).

• Digital deflection (how many identity-recovery and address-change requests are solved without a call).

Practical Tips Before You Call the CRA

• Use secure online services first: Many issues—direct deposit updates, address changes, viewing notices—are faster in your account and no longer require a call, especially with the new recovery flow.

• Call with documents in hand: Have your SIN, notice of assessment, recent return line items, and any benefit letters ready. This speeds verification and reduces repeat calls.

• Avoid peak times if possible: Early mornings and mid-week afternoons tend to be less congested than lunch hours and early evenings in filing season.

• Ask for a case summary: Before ending the call, request the agent’s recap of what was decided and any next steps; note the interaction ID for follow-up.

The audit paints a tough picture: CRA contact centres have struggled with accuracy and access just when Canadians need dependable guidance. The Agency’s counter is a mix of urgent triage—new self-serve account recovery, smarter routing, refreshed knowledge tools—and longer-term modernization that shifts routine tasks online. Over the next several weeks, measurable improvements on answer quality and wait times will determine whether the fix-it plan restores trust—and whether “Revenue Canada” becomes synonymous with faster, clearer help when it matters most.