Types of complaints we can review

The role of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman is to provide a final, impartial review of a service-related complaint when a taxpayer is not satisfied with a review made by CRA – Service Complaints. We can review complaints about service that arose as far back as one year before the appointment of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman (i.e., from February 21, 2007, onward).

The Taxpayers' Ombudsman can only review complaints that are related to service provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).  A service-related complaint includes:

• mistakes, which could refer to misunderstandings, omissions, or oversights;
• undue delays;
• poor or misleading information; and
• staff behaviour.

More specifically, the Taxpayers' Ombudsman will review complaints where any of the following service rights outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights appear not to have been respected by the CRA:

• the right to be treated professionally, courteously, and fairly;
• the right to complete, accurate, clear, and timely information from the CRA;
• the right to lodge a service complaint and to be provided with an explanation of the CRA findings;
• the right to have the costs of compliance taken into account when tax legislation is administered;
• the right to expect the CRA to be accountable;
• the right to expect the CRA to publish service standards and report annually;
• the right to expect the CRA to warn you about questionable tax schemes in a timely manner; and
• the right to be represented by a person of your choice.

Please see Limitations for the types of complaints we cannot review.