Canadians calling CRA face delays, often given wrong info, auditor general finds
Canadians who call the CRA for information often experience long wait times and are frequently given incorrect information, according to a new report.
On Tuesday, Oct. 21, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) published its 2025 report on CRA call centres to Parliament. The report found that the CRA’s contact centres “are not providing taxpayers with timely and accurate information.”
The report is an independent and objective assessment of how effectively the government manages its activities, responsibilities, and resources. It’s also especially timely as the CRA is working to replace its telephony system.
Long wait times
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During the 2024-2025 fiscal year, the CRA received over 32 million calls, with only just over 10 million of those reaching an agent.
The agency also fell short of its service standard of responding to 65 percent of calls within 15 minutes or less. Instead, only 18 per cent of callers spoke with an agent within 15 minutes or less. The situation worsened in June, when only five per cent of the calls fell within the 15-minute or less standard.
“In addition, callers choosing to speak with an agent waited on average about 31 minutes, almost twice as long as they had waited a year earlier,” states the report.
With no real-time information on their queue position, callers couldn’t determine whether to wait, disconnect, or use self-service options.
Office of the Auditor General of Canada
Complaints about the service increased by 145 per cent between the fiscal years 2021-2022 and 2024-2025, despite the agency reporting that 77 per cent of callers were satisfied with their call experience.
“However, we found that this satisfaction rate was based on surveys of less than two per cent of answered calls and did not consider the experience of callers who did not reach an agent,” states the OAG.
Wrong information
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According to the report, CRA call centres prioritized agents’ adherence to a schedule over
“accuracy and completeness of responses.”
To determine if Canadians were receiving accurate information on general tax questions, the OAG placed 167 calls between February and May. The result: responses to questions about business taxes or general benefits were only 54 per cent accurate, while individual tax questions were accurate only 17 per cent of the time.
Office of the Auditor General of Canada
“We found that less than nine per cent of agents’ total performance evaluation score related to the accuracy of information they provided to callers,” states the report. “Such a small emphasis on accuracy does not prioritize quality service to callers seeking assistance.”
The report found that the CRA doesn’t dedicate enough time to improving accuracy and completeness through proper feedback and coaching. Overall, agents received less than 30 minutes of coaching, feedback, or training each year.
The agency employed 4,500 as of March 31, and operates eight call centres across the country.
Room for improvement
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Some of the recommendations outlined in the report include:
- reassessing tools, processes, and procedures so agents can gather information efficiently
- ensuring that there’s enough staff to deal with call volumes
- creating a triage system for enquiries about MyAccount and other tax and benefits questions
- improving evaluation and training
- putting more importance on completeness and accuracy of information
The CRA agreed with all of the recommendations, stating that it’s working to implement them.
“Canadians are trusting the Canada Revenue Agency to provide answers to their tax and benefit questions that are accurate and complete,” states the OAG. “Errors in taxes and missed deadlines can be costly to taxpayers.”