After placing 167 calls to the CRA's contact centres over four months this year, the office of Auditor General Karen Hogan reported in October that CRA call centre staff answered just 17 per cent of its individual tax questions accurately.

The report found that agent responses to business tax or general benefits questions were accurate just over 54 per cent of the time.

Wayne Long, secretary of state for the Canada Revenue Agency and financial institutions, told the House of Commons public accounts committee Thursday he accepted the report and its findings.

However, he argued that the sample was small, noting that the CRA receives 30 million calls a year. Long also said the CRA conducts 100,000 samples per year where the accuracy is "basically" 90 per cent.

"I would argue that 167 calls isn't the best sub-sample," Long said, adding that he doesn't accept those findings. "I don't want Canadians to think that they're not giving accurate information because they are."

Long also told the government is working on a three-to-five year plan for the agency as its 100-day plan to improve its services reaches its end point next week.

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne set the 100-day timeline for the CRA to address call centre delays on Sept. 2, putting in place a deadline of Dec. 11.

Long said the 100-day plan, which was focused on addressing call centre delays, is a "Band-Aid" and he wants to keep working on improving services after it wraps up next week.

Hogan's report 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."

Melanie Serjak, an assistant commissioner at the CRA, told MPs after the release of Hogan's report the agency is looking to roll out a more "senior and standardized" level of training and to deploy artificial intelligence to improve the accuracy of CRA agents' advice to the public.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2025.