The right to know : Droit de savoir : examen du caractère suffisant des renseignements figurant aux lettres de la Direction générale des appels de l'Agence du revenu du Canada

Even though it is not the role of the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman to offer an opinion on whether the CRA is complying with the law, Canadian case law is a useful reference when illustrating the role that reasons play in ensuring procedural fairness and evaluating the practices of the CRA’s Appeals Branch. [...] As a result of our review of Jim’s complaint, we made a recommendation that the CRA add a paragraph to decision letters providing the taxpayer with the name and phone number of the appeals officer, and inviting the taxpayer to call should they have further questions. [...] The complaints of Jim and Richard raised the question of whether, in the context of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, it should be easier for taxpayers to acquire the information they need to understand the CRA’s decisions and to subsequently seek a judicial remedy should they so desire. [...] We questioned this apparent contradiction and the CRA advised that, although the letters do not contain a breakdown of the facts leading up to the decision, the taxpayer can gather the facts themselves by obtaining from the CRA copies of the information that the appeals officer used to render the decision. [...] The CRA stated that it is their policy for an appeals officer to keep taxpayers informed of the status of their appeal prior to a decision being made, and to explain: • the relevant legislation to ensure the taxpayer understands it; • the appeals process; and • how the information gathered by the appeals officer will be used to arrive at the final decision.