At the end of his first year as the inaugural Taxpayers’ Ombudsman in Canada, one thing has become clear to Paul Dubé: Canadians have plenty of concerns about the Canada Revenue Agency.

In Toronto on Tuesday, for the beginning of a national tour to raise awareness about his role and to get a sense for Canadians’ concerns about the CRA, Dubé said he has already been contacted 3,000 times with complaints and inquiries from taxpayers. And that’s during a year when the ombudsman has kept a deliberately low profile.

Dubé was appointed to the position in February with a mandate to ensure Canadians get professional service and fair treatment from the CRA. In fulfilling this, he conducts independent reviews of service-related complaints about the CRA, and ensures the agency respects the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Since the position is brand new, the months since February have been spent establishing the office and putting into place the 25 employees who report to Dubé. With that foundation in place, the ombudsman is now committed to raising his profile among individual and corporate taxpayers, and hearing their concerns.

“Now we have the capacity to handle some significant volume,” Dubé said on Tuesday. “The first anniversary is coming up in February, so that’s why it’s time to get out there, and let people know we’re here to help.”

Dubé added that there is currently a lack of awareness about the Taxpayers Bill of Rights among the public. As part of his tour, he is partnering with such organizations as CARP and the Rotary Club to reach out and inform different groups in society.

But having been contacted thousands of times already, it seems Canadians are eager to utilize the new liaison to have their complaints heard.

Complaints so far have primarily come from individuals and small- and medium-sized businesses. Large businesses are typically equipped with their own tax departments capable of resolving tax-related problems, so the ombudsman hasn’t been contacted by any large corporations, Dubé said.

“The big companies are pretty well armed to handle these issues.”

Most complaints the ombudsman has received so far relate to difficulties getting access to the agency, and the consistency of the information that taxpayers get from the CRA.

Part of Dubé’s goal in gauging concerns on the current tour is to begin identifying systemic issues in order to be proactive in resolving system glitches before they develop into large-scale problems.

“The sooner we find them, the sooner we can start working on them, the sooner we can have an impact on the levels of service,” Dubé said.

He is also visiting CRA offices in each region to determine the types of problems faced at the service end.

“I am independent and impartial, so I meet both sides of the equation,” Dubé explained. “I think its important for me to talk to the CRA employees to see how the systems are set up, see what kinds of challenges they face.”

Each year, the ombudsman will submit an annual report to the minister of national revenue that outlines any systemic issues in the tax system that have been identified throughout the year. The first report will not likely be submitted until December 2009, but in the meantime, Dubé has been busy preparing an interim report that he will submit on the anniversary of his appointment in February. The report will outline the activities Dubé has undertaken in his first year as ombudsman.

IE