As mentioned in our previous blog on the Different Departments in the CRA, there are 5 Program Branches which provide policy and technical support to individuals and businesses through the CRA’s tax service offices and regional tax centres.
We will briefly discuss each Program Branch’s responsibilities here.
1. Assessment, Benefit and Service Branch is responsible for:
- Processing individual and corporate tax returns as well as GST/HST and Trust returns
- Administering Federal and Provincial / Territorial benefits and credits
- Managing the CRA’s E-services including My Account, My Business Account and Represent a Client
- Managing Call Centres including the Individual Income Tax enquiries, Benefits enquiries, Business enquiries and e-Services helpdesk
- Sending out correspondences including Notices of Assessment and Reassessment, Employer-related correspondence, GST/HST Notices and Cheques and Corporation Notice of Assessment
- Conducting outreach to specific taxpayer segments to support voluntary compliance
2. Compliance Programs Branch is responsible for:
- Supporting compliance through outreach, service and education
- Collaborating with tax professionals, provincial and territorial governments to clarify rules and ensure efficient administration
- Developing business intelligence, gathering data and risk scoring to select the optimal files
- Conducting audits and delivering an expanding range of non-audit treatments including industry campaigns, support visits and criminal investigations to correct non-compliance
We’ll look at the other 3 Program Branches and their responsibilities on part 2 of our blog series so please check back soon!
