Canada's 'completely nuts' tax code could complicate automated filing plan: watchdog

Taxpayers' Ombudsperson François Boileau is pushing for simplified, machine-driven assess filing as his power faces its highest list of complaints in iii years.

Boileau released a new report on Tuesday showing his office saw a 27 per cent year-over-year jump in complaints in 2025-26, driven mainly by Canadians upset with Canada Revenue Agency service delays.

He told reporters the 100-day improvement plan the federal government introduced last fall lit a fire under CRA bureaucrats and helped to boost service this past tax season, but now he wants to see more regular reporting from the agency on how it's living up to expectations.

Boileau also said the CRA could make better use of AI chatbots to answer Canadians' questions online. He said he wants to ensure AI is used equitably and that human agents are still the ones making decisions on Canadians' tax accounts.

"Whether I like it or not, it's the way of the future," Boileau said.

"If it can help contact centre agents to have a better understanding of the issue at hand and what has been said consistently with other similar situations, that might be helpful."

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Boileau's report includes seven recommendations to improve CRA's services, including letting Canadians request a callback without calling a centre first.

His office also calls on Ottawa to expand its automatic tax filing pilot to all individuals "in a simple tax situation," not just those with low incomes.

The federal government started work to simplify tax filing for thousands of low-income households in 2024. It offered a SimpleFile option for eligible households to auto-fill parts of their tax returns online or by phone.

The Liberals announced in Budget 2025 they plan to offer pre-filled tax returns to one million Canadians starting next year, and to scale that up to 5.5 million by 2029.

Asked Tuesday about the CRA's push to scale up automatic tax filing, Boileau said the size and complexity of the Income Tax Act could pose a barrier.

"It's completely nuts. Maybe it's time to streamline a little bit," he said.

John Fragos, spokesperson for Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, pointed to the CRA's 100-day plan as proof the federal government is dedicated to improving service for Canadians.

He said in a statement to The Canadian Press that scaling up automatic tax filing will help Canadians get access to the benefits they're entitled to while safeguarding confidential taxpayer information and improving tax fairness.

Reporter

Craig Lord is a reporter with The Canadian Press.

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