Complaints We Can Review

We can review complaints about service that arose as far back as one year before the appointment of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman (i.e., from February 21, 2007, onward).

The Taxpayers' Ombudsman can only review complaints that are related to service provided by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). 

The Taxpayers' Ombudsman will review complaints where any of the following service rights outlined in the Taxpayer Bill of Rights appear not to have been respected by the CRA:

• the right to be treated professionally, courteously, and fairly (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 5);
• the right to complete, accurate, clear, and timely information from the CRA (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 6);
• the right to lodge a service complaint and to be provided with an explanation of the CRA findings (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 9);
• the right to have the costs of compliance taken into account when tax legislation is administered (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 10);
• the right to expect the CRA to be accountable (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 11);
• the right to expect the CRA to publish service standards and report annually (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 13);
• the right to expect the CRA to warn you about questionable tax schemes in a timely manner (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 14); and
• the right to be represented by a person of your choice (Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Article 15).

For the types of complaints that we cannot review, please read our limitations.