In a recent report, the Auditor General revealed significant shortcomings in the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) call centers. The report, released on Tuesday, highlights that the centers are slow to respond and often provide inaccurate information to taxpayers.

The CRA has set a goal to answer 65 percent of calls within 15 minutes. However, the Auditor General, Karen Hogan, found that only 18 percent of calls met this standard during the 2024-25 period. The situation worsened in June, with fewer than five percent of calls answered in that timeframe. The Auditor General's office conducted 167 test calls from February to May this year, finding that the average wait time to connect with an agent was nearly 33 minutes. Overall, taxpayers spent an average of 50 minutes on the phone, including hold time and conversation with agents.

The report also noted that the CRA deflected approximately 8.6 million calls last year, a significant increase from 1.4 million the previous year. This has led to a surge in customer complaints, with a 145 percent increase reported between 2021-22 and 2024-25. Despite this, the CRA claims that about 77 percent of callers who respond to surveys report satisfaction with their experience.

Hogan criticized the CRA for prioritizing shift schedules over the accuracy of information provided to callers. The report indicated that only five percent of callers received quality tax assistance in June. The agency performed better with business tax inquiries, providing accurate responses 54 percent of the time, but struggled with individual tax questions, achieving only 17 percent accuracy for general inquiries.

The Auditor General's office found that the CRA dedicated minimal resources to improving service quality, with only 2,200 hours of coaching and training in 2024-25, averaging less than 30 minutes per agent annually. Additionally, the report pointed out that the CRA is not fully utilizing its contract with IBM, which manages its telephony services. Test calls revealed that callers did not receive expected real-time updates on their queue status, leaving them uncertain about wait times.

In conjunction with the CRA report, the Auditor General also released findings on various other topics, including military recruitment and housing issues. The military aimed to recruit 19,800 personnel last year but only managed to bring in about 15,000. The lengthy recruitment process, often taking 200-300 days, and a backlog of security checks were cited as contributing factors. Furthermore, the report highlighted a shortage of available housing for military personnel, with only 205 units available against 3,706 applicants on waitlists.