Overview
- The audit says only 18% of calls in 2024–25 were answered within the 15‑minute standard, with average waits around 31–33 minutes and just 5% meeting the standard in June.
- Test calls found agents gave accurate answers to general individual‑tax questions only 17% of the time, compared with roughly 54–56% accuracy for business tax and benefits queries.
- Service deterioration tracked with fewer agents on the phones, falling from about 4,547 at the end of March 2024 to roughly 3,530 by May 31, 2025, despite rising call volumes.
- Call centres deflected about 8.6 million calls last year and complaints rose 145% since 2021–22, while many inquiries stemmed from MyAccount access issues that the auditor says need better triage.
- The CRA says a 100‑day plan has paused cuts, extended about 850 contracts, rehired staff, expanded AI tools and lifted its answer rate to a reported 77%, even as the audit urges fixes to training, evaluation and telephony (including missing real‑time queue updates under the IBM contract).