Program directory · Canada Revenue Agency
Policy, Rulings, and Interpretations
- Department
- Canada Revenue Agency
- Program code
- BRA11 (CCRA)
- Core responsibility
- Tax
- In Departmental Plans
- 2018-19 – 2026-27 · New since an earlier plan
What it does
We offer taxpayers, registrants, and tax intermediaries rulings and interpretations of the acts the Canada Revenue Agency administers, including, but not limited to, the Income Tax Act, Underused Housing Tax Act, Excise Tax Act, Canada Pension Plan and the Employment Insurance Act. In doing so, we give taxpayers certainty by explaining how the law applies to specific situations. The CRA’s Policy, Rulings, and Interpretations Programs analyze all rulings and interpretations through the same lens regardless of client demographic information. We work closely with the Department of Finance Canada in developing legislative policy, as well as providing legislative policy and administrative services to other Canadian government organizations. We introduce and advance initiatives designed to provide early certainty on tax matters, help prevent errors and, in some cases, reduce the number of individual requests for rulings and interpretations. We also administer legislation related to excise duties and taxes. As a result of this work, taxpayers are more aware of available technical information, better informed of their tax obligations and entitlements, and better able to apply the law correctly.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Policy, Rulings, and Interpretations | This program | 2017-18 – 2028-29 | $946M |
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.
| Year | What changed | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | Indicators added: % of technical interpretations the CRA issued within 90 business days of receiving all essential information from the client | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
| 2020-21 | Indicators dropped: % of advance income tax rulings the CRA issued within 90 business days of receiving all essential information from the client | Departmental Results Framework (GC InfoBase) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | ≥ 85% | 2020 | 87% | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 85% | 2021 | 88% | Met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 85% | 2022 | 84% The CRA did not meet its target as there were some complex files that required additional time to resolve. | Not met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 85% | 2023 | 81% The performance result of this indicator is due to high staff turnover, staffing delays, and increasingly complex and technical files. | Not met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 85% | 2024 | 87% | Met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 85% | 2025 | 89% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 80% | 2019 | 86% | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 80% | 2020 | 86.9% | Met |
| 2020-21 | ≥ 80% | 2021 | 59% Please note that this Program Inventory indicator is also an external service standard. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) processing times were impacted by an emphasis on implementing Canada’s Economic Response Plan to support Canadians and businesses facing hardship, and by public health measures that limited the number of staff permitted in CRA offi… | Not met |
| 2021-22 | ≥ 80% | 2022 | 84.7% | Met |
| 2022-23 | ≥ 80% | 2023 | 81% | Met |
| 2023-24 | ≥ 80% | 2024 | 76% The program experienced significant staff turnover during 2023-24 that affected the CRA’s ability to meet its service standard. The CRA continues to enhance inventory management to improve results. | Not met |
| 2024-25 | ≥ 80% | 2025 | 87% | Met |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-19 | ≥ 85% | 2019 | 89% In an effort to provide better service and improve transparency to Canadians, this service standard was split into two separate indicators in 2018-19. Updated wording, methodology, and targets can be found in the CRA’s 2018-19 service standards. In the 2018-19 fiscal year, 90% of advance income tax rulings and 89% of technical interpretations were issued within this standard. | Met |
| 2019-20 | ≥ 80% | 2020 | 85% | Met |
Current: the 2026-27 plan's targets
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 85% | 2027 | — | Planned |
Bars: result reported. Dashed line: target.
| Report year | Target | Due | Result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | ≥ 80% | 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 | — | $90.2M |
| 2018-19 | $85.4M | $84.8M |
| 2019-20 | $114M | $104M |
| 2020-21 | $125M | $119M |
| 2021-22 | $132M | $117M |
| 2022-23 | $101M | $130M |
| 2023-24 | $138M | $153M |
| 2024-25 | $142M | $148M |
| 2025-26 | $152M | — |
| 2026-27 | $151M | — |
| 2027-28 | $134M* | — |
| 2028-29 | $125M* | — |
Employees (FTEs)
Show the numbers
| Fiscal year | Planned | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 1,092 | 1,002 |
| 2018-19 | 1,146 | 1,049 |
| 2019-20 | 1,350 | 1,220 |
| 2020-21 | 1,446 | 1,313 |
| 2021-22 | 1,458 | 1,359 |
| 2022-23 | 1,252 | 1,439 |
| 2023-24 | 1,531 | 1,479 |
| 2024-25 | 1,551 | 1,477 |
| 2025-26 | 1,556 | — |
| 2026-27 | 1,450 | — |
| 2027-28 | 1,340* | — |
| 2028-29 | 1,268* | — |
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 | $85,430,178 | $89,576,833 | $89,615,648 | ||||||||
| 2019-20 plan | $113,837,184 | $113,756,724 | $116,159,619 | ||||||||
| 2020-21 plan | $125,165,445 | $129,144,022 | $90,386,564 | ||||||||
| 2021-22 plan | $132,385,546 | $92,947,048 | $89,159,437 | ||||||||
| 2022-23 plan | $100,559,032 | $92,248,285 | $90,771,325 | ||||||||
| 2023-24 plan | $137,989,916 | $136,134,914 | $135,058,418 | ||||||||
| 2024-25 plan | $142,368,447 | $143,957,809 | $144,398,086 | ||||||||
| 2025-26 plan | $152,046,925 | $152,199,379 | $154,198,535 | ||||||||
| 2026-27 plan | $150,577,523 | $133,724,266 | $125,168,472 | ||||||||
| Actual | $84,758,492 | $104,316,420 | $118,788,868 | $116,925,251 | $130,317,907 | $152,692,896 | $148,302,736 |
Actual spending is from Departmental Results Reports and the Public Accounts, as published in GC InfoBase. FTEs are full-time equivalents.
