June 21, 2021
This year, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) introduced an innovation into the CVITP. Every host organization will be issued with a unique CVITP Organization Identification Number or COIN for the duration of the host organization’s participation in the CVITP (i.e. it will remain the same from year to year).
How does the COIN work?
Once the host organization has been assigned a COIN, CVITP volunteers affiliated with the organization insert it in the settings of their UFile software so that each time a volunteer electronically files a return (Efile), the CRA will automatically be able to associate the return with that host organization.
Volunteers who work for more than one host organization must remember to change the COIN in their UFile settings each time they electronically file returns for a different host organization. The COIN box or field in the UFile settings can also be left blank, allowing the volunteer to file a return without identifying any host organization associated with the return.
As the settings in the UFile software have only been changed starting for the 2020 tax season, this means that any returns filed electronically for prior years will not be identified through this method. (The intent is to ensure that the COIN remains part of the UFile settings for future years.) Nor will returns filed by paper. As some host organizations do not use UFile software, their volunteers will not be able to use this method to associate the returns they file electronically with the host organization with which they are working.
Why has the CRA introduced the COIN?
The CRA says that the COIN will be used for two purposes: (1) counting the number of returns filed electronically by each host organization (statistics and reporting); and (2) verifying the number of returns reported as being filed by the host organization on their grant application.
This second purpose refers to a new grant program the CRA has prepared to provide support to CVITP host organizations. The number of returns filed by the host organization serves as an important criterion for establishing the amount of any grant which may be awarded. As host organizations can file returns for prior years as well as by using tax software that does not include the COIN, they are required to report on all the returns they file electronically as part of their grant application. (Returns filed by paper are not eligible to be counted within the grant program.)
Why the COIN is a great idea
For one, it is a useful tool for recognizing the distinct efforts of each host organization much as the pilot grant program is intended to do. (See our article on three important limitations to this program.)
But there’s another reason. The CRA says it will use the COIN to collect statistics and do reporting. This is a good start. But Minister Lebouthillier’s Supplementary Mandate Letter from the Prime Minister, issued in January 2021, suggests that more than this should be done when she is instructed to “improve the collection and analysis of disaggregated data related to supports and services offered by the CRA.”
COIN data should not just be collected for the purposes of statistics and reporting but also analyzed to help inform strategic decisions about the CVITP. For example, analysis of COIN data could used to identify those host organizations which are providing CVITP services to clients in deep poverty or to help chronic non-filers to file. On this basis, the CRA could target these host organizations with additional financial resources to help them expand their outreach in serving these groups.
In a forthcoming article, we will have more to say about the kind of data the CRA could be collecting using the COIN to help channel its strategic support to host organizations. In the meantime, we congratulate the CRA on introducing this particularly useful innovation.