Taxpayers’ Ombudsman
Upholding Your Service Rights
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Digest of Taxpayer Service Rights
The Digest of Taxpayer Service Rights is intended to help raise awareness and understanding of taxpayer service rights and how the intervention of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman has made a significant difference for taxpayers.
The Digest will serve as a valuable reference for taxpayers wishing to better understand their rights to service and fairness when dealing with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Each of the eight service rights within the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is defined and illustrated with summaries of actual cases reviewed by our Office.
The Digest demonstrates how the Taxpayers' Ombudsman works to ensure that taxpayers receive the professional service and fair treatment they are entitled to from the CRA. Central to the Ombudsman's mandate is to promote and uphold the eight service rights within Taxpayer Bill of Rights. In doing so, four basic principles are followed:
Fairness…
"acting with equity and justice"
Independence…
"operating at arms length from the CRA"
Impartiality…
"considering the position and the perspective of both the taxpayer and the CRA - neither an advocate for the taxpayer nor a defender of the CRA"
Confidentiality…
"holding all communication with those seeking assistance in strict confidence and not disclosing confidential communication unless given permission to do so by affected parties"
By highlighting how our intervention leads to the resolution of service and fairness issues between taxpayers and the CRA, this Digest demonstrates how Canadians benefit from an independent and impartial Taxpayers' Ombudsman.
