OTTAWA — Canadians who file their personal income taxes incorrectly after getting inaccurate information from the Canada Revenue Agency have no legal recourse, says a tax lawyer.
After placing calls to the CRA’s contact centres over four months this year, Auditor General Karen Hogan’s office reported that CRA staff answered just 17 per cent of the tax questions accurately.
Her office’s report, released Tuesday, said the CRA seems more concerned with adhering to schedules for shifts and breaks than with the “accuracy and completeness of information they provided to callers.”
Lawyer David Rotfleisch says that under the Income Tax Act, Canadians are responsible for filing accurate tax returns and they “cannot and should not” rely on the CRA’s general information line, which he says is “notoriously wrong.”
Rotfleisch says taxpayers can appeal any interest or fees resulting from filing in error due to bad advice from the CRA, but they won’t be hit with gross negligence penalties.
Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, says the CRA’s performance is “horrendous” and that the government needs to simplify the tax code because “nobody understands the impossibly complicated rules.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2025.
Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press