Program directory · Canada Revenue Agency
Collections
- Department
- Canada Revenue Agency
- Program code
- BRA03 (CCRA)
- Core responsibility
- Tax
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
We collect tax and non-tax debts on behalf of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, as well as for other government departments and agencies. To achieve this, we evaluate new approaches to modernize tax collection strategies and foster innovations, facilitated by business intelligence and data analytics. A better understanding of taxpayers' behaviour allows for a more targeted and risk-based approach. By differentiating lower-risk taxpayers (those who can and want to pay, or those who owe but need time to pay) from those who do not intend to pay, we can customize our approach to encourage or enforce payment compliance, as needed. To promote self-resolution, we strive to educate all taxpayers to ensure they are aware of, and understand, their tax payment obligations and the consequences of the collection enforcement actions when they are non-compliant.
Source: the department's Program Inventory, via GC InfoBase.
History and lineage
First appears in GC InfoBase's actual spending by program in 2017-18. The data does not record when a program was created; it may be older than its first appearance here, which is limited by the sources (program spending starts in 2010-11, Departmental Plans in 2018-19).
| Program | Relation | Years with data | Actual spending over those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collections | This program | 2017-18 – 2028-29 | $3.81B |
No earlier or later program in the same department has a similar name.
Significant changes in scope and budget
Detected from the data: renames between plans, programs it appears to replace, merge with or split into (matched by name), year-over-year changes in spending of at least 25% and $5M, or in employees of at least 20% and 25 FTEs, linked budget measures, and results indicators added or dropped.
No significant changes detected.
Success criteria
The program's indicators from its department's Departmental Results Framework: the target set in each year's plan, and the result reported the following year. Source: GC InfoBase.
Historical: targets against results
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 100% | 2019 | 95.3% Government Programs (GP) experienced a reduction in intake. Contributing factors to the reduction include a more robust economy, and Canada Student Loan rehabilitation program where delinquent accounts are now returned to the lending financial institution after having paid all outstanding interest and two monthly payments. Commitments for GP will be adjusted in the coming year to reflect the impa… | Not met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 100% | 2020 | 110.1% | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 100% | 2021 | 147% The CRA based production objectives for 2020-2021 on projected impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Actual production exceeded these objectives. | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 100% | 2022 | 119.1% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 100% | 2023 | 86% The result for this indicator fell short of the target partially due to the focus on Employment Insurance Emergency Response Benefits for the majority of the first half of the year. There was also a suspension on the accumulation of interest charged on Canada Student Loan accounts until April 1, 2023, which could have impacted the number of payments received. | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 100% | 2024 | 111% The higher than expected results in Government Programs could be explained by the high results in Set-off, which have risen 35.3% year-over-year. When the CRA proactively applies tax refunds and benefit payments to tax and other government debts, these are referred to as Set-offs. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Set-off results have been lower due to the removal of all statutory set-off requ… | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 100% | 2025 | 130.9% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 100% | 2019 | 103.6% | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 100% | 2020 | 97.1% The CRA's collections activities ceased in mid-March 2020 in response to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leading up to the pandemic, the Agency was on track to meet its target of $2.07B tax debt resolved. | Not met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 100% | 2021 | 124% The CRA based production objectives for 2020-2021 on projected impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Actual production exceeded these objectives. | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 100% | 2022 | 107.2% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 100% | 2023 | 124% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 100% | 2024 | 107% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 100% | 2025 | 99.6% The reduction in resources, due to budget constraints, affected the year-end result and created a slight variance. | Not met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 100% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 100% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Future goals: targets due after 2026-27
No targets with a later due date.
Spending and employees: planned against actual
Spending
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | — | $426M |
| 2018-19 | $372M | $382M |
| 2019-20 | $427M | $428M |
| 2020-21 | $425M | $471M |
| 2021-22 | $433M | $446M |
| 2022-23 | $467M | $520M |
| 2023-24 | $487M | $573M |
| 2024-25 | $526M | $563M |
| 2025-26 | $540M | — |
| 2026-27 | $503M | — |
| 2027-28 | $512M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $511M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 5,408 | 5,143 |
| 2018-19 | 5,385 | 5,437 |
| 2019-20 | 5,856 | 5,903 |
| 2020-21 | 5,940 | 5,345 |
| 2021-22 | 5,717 | 5,925 |
| 2022-23 | 6,121 | 6,795 |
| 2023-24 | 6,291 | 6,600 |
| 2024-25 | 6,682 | 6,691 |
| 2025-26 | 6,761 | — |
| 2026-27 | 6,146 | — |
| 2027-28 | 6,249* | — |
| 2028-29 | 6,233* | — |
Planned spending, plan by plan
Each row is one year's Departmental Plan and its forecast for the next three fiscal years; read a column down to see how the forecast for one year changed. The last row is what was actually spent. Click an amount for its source. Biggest changes in federal spending plans
| Plan | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | 2026-27 | 2027-28 | 2028-29 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 plan | $371,810,596 | $395,708,303 | $377,674,011 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $427,121,027 | $420,026,118 | $416,632,351 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $425,019,127 | $429,183,954 | $409,120,038 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $433,491,475 | $426,903,793 | $427,178,183 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $466,932,399 | $463,472,084 | $457,683,683 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $486,709,605 | $472,408,549 | $463,244,068 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $526,305,728 | $512,845,630 | $506,040,994 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $540,136,293 | $525,210,972 | $520,053,887 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $503,196,816 | $512,476,601 | $510,612,707 | ||||||||
| Actual | $381,589,789 | $428,224,546 | $470,623,140 | $446,043,964 | $520,285,817 | $572,689,110 | $562,897,599 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
