CRA SERVICE STANDARDS 2017-2018
On April 27, 2017, CRA released their Service Standards for the 2017-2018 year. The service standards state the performance that taxpayers can reasonably expect to receive from CRA under normal circumstances.
submitting returns electronically
CRA aims to issue a Notice of Assessment or Reassessment within the time limits as follows, 95% of the time:
| Digitally Filed | Paper Filed | |
| Individual income tax returns | 2 weeks | 8 weeks |
| Corporate income tax returns | 6 weeks | 16 weeks |
| GST/HST returns | 4 weeks | 8 weeks |
| Trust returns | NA | 17 weeks |
| T1 adjustment requests (less straightforward requests may take longer) | 2 weeks | 8 weeks |
Some additional standards are as follows:
| CRA Service Standard | How often CRA aims to meet this Standard | |
| Issue a decision letter for a taxpayer relief request | 180 days | 85% of the time |
| Resolution of a low-complexity tax objection | 180 days | 80% of the time |
| Resolution of a service complaint | 30 days | 80% of the time |
| Respond to an enquiry submitted though My Business Account | 2 weeks | 95% of the time |
A number of other service standards relating to benefit applications, video and film tax credits, scientific research & experimental development claims, GST/HST rulings, advance income tax rulings, and technical interpretations were also provided.
Editors’ Comment
The above represents CRA’s targeted performance. Note, however, that a number of practitioners report that T1 adjustment requests are taking longer than the target of 2 weeks or 8 weeks for digitally or paper-filed requests, respectively.