The CRA recently published a new feature on its CVITP website called “Free tax clinic statistics”.  This feature includes annual data on individuals assisted, returns filed, volunteers and host organizations as well as the value of the entitlements generated by filing returns.  It provides this data at the national level as well as by province and territory, something that was rarely seen before.  This is a very welcome development!

While the website only gives data for 2021 and 2022, we hope the CRA will update this feature in future years without losing the historical data.  Considering this new feature, we list four concerns below, in order of priority, from least to most important:

1. A change in the timeframe for data collection, shifting from May 16 of the previous year to May 15 of the current year, over to January 1 to December 31 of the same year.  The data for 2021 (January 1 to December 31) are remarkably similar to the data reported for what was previously 2022 (May 16, 2021, to May 15, 2022).   The data for 2022 (January 1 to December 31) leads to only one change in our previous assessment of six trends revealed in CVITP data:  the numbers of individuals assisted and returns completed rose by 13% and 15% respectively in 2022 whereas the old data suggested stagnating performance.
2. Reporting on the value of the refund, benefit and credit entitlements generated each year for CVITP clients.  The total is for the federal and provincial/territorial refund, credit, and benefits administered through the CRA.   A further breakdown of what is included would provide for greater transparency and understanding.  We give several reasons why we think the amount reported is a very conservative underestimation.
3. While the subnational figures are of passing interest, host organizations are keen to get the information on the value of the refunds, credits and benefit entitlements for the clients they have served in their own CVITP clinics.  This demonstrates the relevance of their work to senior management within their host organizations and to their local communities.  It also helps to buttress their requests to donors for funding support.  The introduction of the CVITP Organization Identification Number or COIN in 2021 (for 2020 and subsequent year returns) now makes this possible.
4. While the CRA data are useful, the results do not really get at the main purpose of the CVITP.  (We show why here.)  The CRA should track and report against more relevant results, which will help it to focus limited CVITP resources, especially its volunteers, on providing CVITP services to those who need these the most.

This article provides the numbers and more detail on the concerns listed above.