The quality of service provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to owners of small and medium-sized businesses has worsened since 2001, according to a survey released today from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

According to the survey, 19% of business owners said overall service was worse in 2008, compared to 13% in the same survey in 2004. Among tax practitioners, 52% said service was worse in 2007, which is more than double the number of disappointed respondents in 2004.

“The transformation of the former Revenue Canada into an agency, the CRA, was supposed to create a more efficient and service-oriented organization. Our members tell us that this is not happening,” said Garth Whyte, executive vice-president of CFIB, in a news release. “In fact, they feel the CRA treats them as guilty until proven innocent, and that’s not good news for our economy.”

Slow service, lack of easily understandable information and “voice mail jail” were the top concerns in the 2008 survey of about 8,271 business owners and 472 tax practitioners who provide services to small business, the CFIB says. On the more positive side of things, respondents viewed treatment by staff, speed of refunds and the CRA website well.

As well, many business owners felt the administrative burden associated with taxes has grown in the past three years. “Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the announcement of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, but according to our members, there’s not much to celebrate,” said Whyte.

As a result of the survey, the CFIB is calling on the CRA to clearly define and implement the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The federation would also like to see the agency proactively communicate tax policy changes to affected small businesses. To combat the “guilty until proven innocent” issue, the CFIB says the CRA needs to develop an internal culture that seeks to help taxpayers rather than intimidate them. As well, it suggests the federal agency begin to develop ways to measure and reduce the tax compliance burden on small business, benchmark and measure customer service performance and ensure audits minimize time requirements for smaller businesses.