Context
The CRA collects income tax from individuals and businesses, and also administers benefits. Many people with low income do not owe additional taxes when they file a tax return. Instead they are eligible for refunds as a result of tax benefits and credits.
Unfortunately many of these people do not receive a refund because they do not file taxes. Of those who do get refunds, many file with assistance from the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program . This program hosts free clinics where volunteers file taxes for eligible people. Initially, the CDS/CRA partnership focused on increasing the capacity of the volunteer clinics.
Early research led to a change in direction. Research insights indicated a primary need for user-friendly tax-filing tools for low income Canadians. Through the partnership, the team learned that CRA already has most information that tax-filers include in their returns. Using this information, we aimed to design a service that provides a wizard-like tax filing experience: rather than requiring tax-filers to enter their information, the service presents information that the CRA already has, then asks tax-filers to confirm the information is correct.
Several blog posts discuss the work of the partnership:
- July 2019 Validation testing: A way to challenge your assumptions
- April 2019 Co-location: leave no team member behind
- November 2018 Helping Canadians with low income complete their taxes
News article describing the work: