The Canada Revenue Agency says it is “proud” of the progress made under its 100-day Service Improvement Plan, which doubled the share of unique calls answered—from about 35 per cent to more than 70 per cent—but officials maintain that the agency will “never be in a position” to answer every call it receives. With more than 30 million calls coming in each year, CRA assistant commissioner Melanie Serjak said achieving a 100 per cent response rate is simply not feasible for an operation expected to function “in a very fiscally responsible, and somewhat restrained way.”
At certain points, call response rates reached as high as 92 per cent during the 100-day period, made possible by rehiring 1,250 employees and extending contracts. The plan centred on four key priorities: improving call response, expanding digital self-serve options, addressing systemic service problems, and modernizing how the CRA delivers programs. While acknowledging that more work lies ahead, Serjak said the CRA is encouraged by its progress.
A major part of the improvement strategy involved steering Canadians toward digital tools to reduce call volumes. Maxime Guénette, assistant commissioner of the Service, Innovation and Integration Branch, said he is “very proud” of the results, noting an 11-per-cent drop in unique callers—223,000 fewer calls—as more people turned to online services.
The 100-day review was launched after widespread service delays earlier this year. In September, Secretary of State Wayne Long bluntly declared the agency had “hit rock bottom,” while an auditor-general’s report in October found CRA call centres gave accurate responses to general tax questions only 17 per cent of the time—an assessment the government disputed.
CRA officials highlighted several “success stories” in digital modernization. Canadians who lose their CRA sign-in details can now recover access online, eliminating roughly 300,000 calls annually. A new “Manage Balance” feature has already been used 23,000 times, allowing taxpayers to make payments without phoning an agent. The CRA’s GenAI chatbot has also been upgraded to handle more complex questions, with usage up 240 per cent from last year. A scheduled callback program for account-access and business registration issues has been used more than 59,000 times.
Processing times have also improved. For instance, the Canada Child Benefit wait time has dropped from 19 weeks to 13, and the Disability Tax Credit from 15 weeks to 11, though both remain above CRA service standards. Guénette said he hopes further reductions will be achieved ahead of the busy tax-filing season. Additional modernization includes routing payment-related questions directly to specialists, eliminating 95,000 annual phone transfers.
When pressed on whether improvements came at the expense of other services, Guénette offered no clear answer, saying the effort was less about cutting and more about “recalibrating” resources. Officials said robotic process automation is helping reduce costs, freeing up staff time for higher-value tasks.
The CRA expects call volumes to surge during tax season and is temporarily increasing call-centre staffing to 4,500 from 3,300. Serjak said taxpayers should see improved service compared with last year, even as call loads spike to as many as 300,000 per day. Still, she cautioned that the agency may not consistently achieve its 70-per-cent service level, given the volume.
Uncertainty remains for CRA employees as the federal government undertakes a broader expenditure review. Officials could not say whether job cuts are coming, only that nothing is planned before January. Guénette said decisions tied to Budget 2025’s spending review are still being determined. For now, the agency plans to carry the “intensity and velocity” of its 100-day improvement push into tax-filing season.
