Description: The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) doesn’t think the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is doing a very good job responding to inquiries from its members. The federation has given the CRA a “D” grade, observing the tax agency takes too long to respond, and, when it does, businesses often get incomplete information. The CRA introduced a new phone system in an apparent effort to reduce the problems, however, the CFIB says that the tax authority did worse on this year’s survey compared to the previous one in 2016.

Date:  January 7, 2020

Source:  financialpost.com

Link: https://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/business-group-gives-cra-a-d-grade-in-scathing-report-citing-wait-times-wrong-information

Discussion points:

1) Have you ever experienced trouble trying to obtain information from the Canada Revenue Agency?

2) The CRA frequently recruits university students to join them for both summer jobs and full-time work. How does a story like this one impact recruiting efforts?

3) Starting on page 172 of Wiley’s Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making, we find a section explaining the differences between the cash basis of accounting and the accrual basis. Which basis do you think CRA wants you to use? Why?