Move for stringent review comes after surge of complaints relating to online account lockouts
Roughly a week after Canadian taxpayers reported being suddenly locked out of their online accounts with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson has launched a review of the federal agency’s communications during that time.
Commenting on the incident that affected a reported 100,000 Canadians, the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson noted concerns from many affected taxpayers who cited a lack of clarity of information coming from the CRA.
“Based on the public information available, the CRA did not initially provide adequate information to those affected” the office said in a statement. “The lack of information on what occurred, caused concern and confusion both to the individual taxpayer and to the general public.”
Many taxpayers who were impacted reportedly had difficulties reaching the CRA to unlock their accounts or get additional information about the situation. That issue alone has caused an increased amount of complaints over the past week filed with the ombudsperson’s office, which had already been dealing with an elevated level of calls and urgent requests amid the pandemic.
Regaining access to their My Account is crucial for the taxpayers concerned, the office emphasized, as they want to ensure they can access their tax slips and apply for emergency benefits in a timely fashion.
“Our Office will be undertaking a review of the steps taken by the CRA to provide affected taxpayers with complete, accurate, and clear information, in a timely manner,” said François Boileau, the Taxpayers' Ombudsperson. “This should have been its primary concern, after safeguarding taxpayer information. We aim to ensure that this does not reoccur.”
