In a series of three articles, we look at three initiatives other than the CVITP that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) seems to be focusing its efforts on to reach low and modest-income Canadian residents.  We show why these initiatives presently show less promise than the CVITP in tackling the fundamental problem of helping a greater percentage of Canada’s impoverished residents access the benefits to which they are entitled.

In the first article of this series, we looked at the CRA’s non-filers benefits letter initiative.  We argued that the results are insignificant, even questionable and bear no comparison with those obtained by the CVITP when it comes to assisting those living in poverty.

In the second article, we looked at SimpleFile by Phone, the CRA’s automated phone service for filing returns which has operated since 2018 under a different name, File My Return.  We concluded that the results are insignificant, especially when compared with those produced by the CVITP.  It is also far less cost efficient in producing results than the CVITP.  Furthermore, we showed why the service does not live up to its stated promise of helping Canadians who have not filed in the past to access their benefits.

In this third article, we look at the CRA’s long awaited pilot for automatic tax filing, SimpleFile, which was launched in July 2024.  Learn here why we think that, unlike its billing, filing a return under this new method is not automatic, the process is not “simple” to complete, this new method will not reach non-filers as originally intended, and the launch of the pilot is not well timed so is likely to perform poorly.