THUNDER BAY – More information around taxes needs to be made available to Indigenous peoples, according to the taxpayers ombudsperson, Francois Boileau.
A service improvement request was sent to the Canada Revenue Agency before the start of the 2022 tax filing year from the Office of the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson asking for inaccuracies and information to be made more clear.
Boileau said one example of misleading information was around the "T1S-D, Credit and Benefit Return."
The ombudsperson stated in the request that the "webpage is not clear and the inaccuracy leads the visitor not knowing which credit and benefit return they should use. This could put a burden on friendship centres, community representatives, and band council offices to provide clarification."
While the information was correct two weeks after tax filing became active, the same information wasn't updated on another CRA webpage.
Specifically, the Office of the Ombudsperson is asking the Canada Revenue Agency to:
- Develop a review strategy to ensure the information it provides to Indigenous peoples is complete, accurate, and clear;
- Update all information it is providing to Indigenous peoples that is out of date; and
- Find a solution to ensure timely and up-to-date information is provided to Indigenous Peoples before each tax-filing season.
The full service improvement request from the OTO is available online.
The taxpayers' ombudsperson assists, advises and informs the minister of national revenue on matters relating to services provided by the CRA. The Ombudsperson ensures, in particular, that the CRA respects eight of the service rights outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
