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The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) extended its call centre hours after the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson found that people in different time zones across Canada were having trouble reaching an agent.
In a news release, the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson said Tuesday that the CRA’s contact centre hours for individual and business tax enquiries have been extended.
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Previously, contact centres were open Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., local time.
The hours are now all based on eastern time, with lines open Monday to Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The problem with the previous system, the Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson said, was that the CRA’s telephone system was “preventing callers from reaching an agent if the contact centre was not open in the time zone associated with the caller’s phone number.”
“For example, if someone had moved from Vancouver, (B.C.), to St. John’s, (N.L.), but had kept their Vancouver phone number, they would not have been able to reach a CRA contact centre if they called from St. John’s at 10:30 a.m.,” the release said. “The CRA’s telephone system would have told the caller that the contact centre was not open because it would be 6:00 a.m. in Vancouver.”
The office, which made a service improvement request to the CRA in March, said the issue was especially impacting Canadians living up North, despite having “the potential to affect a large segment of the population.”
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While an 867 area code is needed to contact the CRA’s telephone lines dedicated to residents of the Territories, the release said those hours have also been extended.
“This change is a win for taxpayers,” said Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson François Boileau in the news release. “Not everyone changes their phone number after they move, and this should not limit their access to CRA services. Now taxpayers across Canada have equal access.”
Boileau also said the contact centres haven’t been able to meet call demand, given that they’ve been receiving a high number of calls.
“The CRA has assured us that it is taking steps to address this issue; we will keep a close eye on the situation to see if there are more opportunities for improvement,” Boileau said.
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