April 1, 2025
Summary: In my visits to host organizations across Canada as well as in my own CVITP volunteer work with clients, I have been surprised by the large number of clients who are not being informed of what is contained in the completed return and whose consent is not sought before their return is filed.
This happens in some host organizations where the drop-off option is used, and clients are asked when they register for the service to give consent for the volunteer to file their return. Or when volunteers prepare the returns off-site but do not contact their clients by phone to explain the completed returns before filing them. Or during in-person clinics, when only one member of a couple shows up but expects the volunteer to file both the couple’s returns. Or again, they ask the volunteer to file their return only to discover it has already been filed without their knowledge by the other member of the couple.
This happens because some clinic coordinators do not understand why it is important to obtain informed consent prior to filing. Others will erroneously believe that they have met this requirement by getting the client to sign the CVITP Taxpayer Authorization form (TIS60) before the return has been prepared. New volunteers may be unaware of the importance of getting informed consent prior to filing clients’ returns, or seasoned volunteers are unwilling to challenge a tax clinic’s procedures. Both new and seasoned volunteers may also cut corners as they feel the pressure to file returns rapidly. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does a very poor job of conveying the importance of informed client consent, focusing instead on getting signatures for the TIS60 rather than on explaining its real purpose.
Informed client consent can help to catch and correct errors in the preparation of the return, and to ensure that any income left undeclared is the result of the client’s actions and not the volunteer’s error. For couples, reviewing the returns together ensures that both know and understand the benefits to which the household is entitled and that they continue to get access to all the benefits to which they are entitled. Finally, reviewing the return with the client before it is filed, the volunteer can eliminate some of the mystery and confusion surrounding the income tax and benefit return preparation process.
Imagine receiving a Notice of Assessment that says you owe money when you were expecting a refund. Or again, receiving a notice for a benefit that contains an obvious error. A greater surprise might be to discover that your return has been filed without your knowledge. Unfortunately, these kinds of thing happen all too often because a volunteer has failed to follow two important steps: review the results of the return with the client and then obtain their consent to file it.
In my visits to host organizations across Canada as well as in my own CVITP volunteer work with clients, I have been surprised by the large number of clients who are not being informed of what is contained in the completed return and whose consent is not sought before their return is filed.
How is this happening?
In some host organizations, where the drop-off option[i] is used, clients are being asked when they register for the service to give consent for the volunteer to file their return. This means they are giving uninformed consent as they do not know the outcome of the preparation of their return. (The client may even be asked to sign a blank CVITP Taxpayer Authorization [form TIS60] at the that time.) Or volunteers are preparing the returns off-site but do not contact their clients by phone to review the completed returns before filing them.
In-person clinics also reveal similar problems. I frequently meet with a client only to learn they have a partner. But the partner is not present for the interview. This situation arises for one of two reasons.
The client may ask me to prepare and file their return as well as that of their partner. When I refuse to do both returns, they express surprise, saying that in prior years, the volunteer had done this. I inform them that I can only file their own return and that their partner must be present to give consent if they wish their return to be prepared and filed as well.
Then again, the client may ask me to prepare and file their return because they believe the other member of the couple has already filed their own return. But after preparing their return, I discover (usually when I try unsuccessfully to EFILE the return) that the client’s return has already been filed. And this has been done without their knowledge.
Why is this happening?
Most community-based organizations across Canada which provide free CVITP services do not have a financial empowerment focus to their work with clients.[ii] Their clinic coordinators may be less familiar than their volunteers with the income tax and benefit return preparation process. Some do not understand why it is important to obtain informed consent from the client prior to filing the return. Others will erroneously believe that they have met this requirement by getting the client’s signature in Parts B and D of the CVITP Taxpayer Authorization form (TIS60) before the return has been prepared.
New volunteers may also be unaware of the importance of getting informed consent prior to filing clients’ returns. Then again, seasoned volunteers may be unwilling to challenge a tax clinic’s procedures that do not incorporate opportunities for getting informed consent from a client prior to filing their return. Both new and seasoned volunteers may also feel the pressure to file returns rapidly, given the large volume they are processing.[iii]
For its part, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does a poor job of conveying why informed client consent is so important.
The chief tool the CRA uses to promote informed client consent is the TIS60 form. At the beginning of each tax season, volunteers receive an email from the CRA reminding them that they must get the client to sign the TIS60. But the CRA does not explain why this is important.
Getting a completed TIS60 signed prior to filing the return for a client who has already dropped off their intake form can require add to staff time taken to coordinate what is already a laborious process. Some host organizations may feel it is not worth making the additional effort for a document that is not, in any event, submitted to the CRA but retained by the client for their own records. (Some CVITP clients are poor record keepers and will lose their own copy anyway.) Many conclude that the document is not really that important. But even where an effort is made to get the client’s signature on the completed TIS60 form, this is of little value to the client if they do not really understand the implications of what they are signing.
Why is informed consent important?
Rather than focus on getting the client’s signature on a form they may lose, the emphasis should be on helping the client to understand what is in their income and benefit return. Only then should the volunteer seek the client’s consent to file the return.
This is essential for three reasons.
1Catching mistakes: Once the volunteer has filed the return for the client, the volunteer has no further responsibility for the content of the return. If there are any errors or omissions, the CRA holds the client, not the volunteer, responsible for them. As the client is the one who will need to answer any CRA questions challenging the accuracy of the data contained in their return, it is important that the client know and understand exactly what is being submitted on their behalf before they give permission to the volunteer to file their return. In reviewing the return with the client before it is filed, the volunteer may catch errors that they have made.
2Undeclared income: Similarly, the CRA holds the client responsible for any attempt to conceal taxable income. The client cannot use the excuse that they were unaware of what the volunteer was doing as the CRA assumes that the volunteer has obtained informed consent from the client before filing their return. In reviewing the return with the client before it is filed, the volunteer ensures that any income left undeclared is the result of the client’s actions and not their own error in preparing the return.
3Identifying the head of the family: Even though the federal and provincial benefits are for the household, the CRA sends benefit notices and payments to only one member of a couple. Whomever is identified as the family head in the return preparation software will be the one who receives the benefit notices and payments. If a couple shares a joint bank account and that is where the benefits are deposited, there is no issue. But if this is not the case, the couple needs to jointly decide whom the family head is – and thus whom will receive the benefit payments – before the returns are prepared. A lack of transparency about the benefits can, in some cases, cause friction within the household, especially if the benefits are not put toward household priorities. In reviewing the returns with both members of a couple, the volunteer ensures that they each know and understand the benefits to which the household is entitled.
In the case of a couple, there are two additional reasons why it is essential to prepare and review the results of the returns with both members before these are filed.
4Ensure families continue to receive the Canada Child Benefit: Volunteers can prepare and file the return of only member of the couple. This can be done by indicating the name and net income of the other (absent) member of the couple on the client’s return. In preparing and reviewing the returns with both parents, even if the income of one of the two is zero, the volunteer ensures that the mother will continue to receive Canada Child Benefits without disruption.[iv]
5Ensure households continue to get access to other benefits: Access to some other income-tested benefits, like the Canada Learning Bond or subsidized rent in social housing within some provinces, requires both members of the couple to provide notices of assessment as proof of the household’s income. In preparing and reviewing the returns with both members of a couple, even if the income of one of the two is zero, the volunteer ensures that members get the documentation they need to maintain access to other income-tested benefits.
Finally, the volunteer should also be reviewing the results of the return with the client for the following reason.
6Civics education: Two of the most basic functions of a government – the collection of income tax (which makes up approximately 50% of its revenues), and the redistribution of government revenues to reduce inequality and poverty – should be understood by every citizen. The income tax and benefit return plays a central role in fulfilling these functions. Yet all too often, Canadian residents are overwhelmed by the preparation of their income tax and benefit return; this may be one reason why, each year, 60% of Canadian residents get someone else to file their return. In reviewing the return with the client before it is filed, the volunteer can eliminate some of the mystery and confusion surrounding the income tax and benefit return preparation process.
If volunteers get this reasoning, then they will always inform the client of what is in their income tax and benefit return before getting their consent to file it.
[i] This option became popular during COVID. The client provides proof of their identity to the clinic administrator and completes a form with essential information. A volunteer off-site uses this form to prepare the client’s return.
[ii] See the article entitled “Insights from Visiting 14 Urban Organizations in 5 Provinces”.
[iii] I have heard volunteers share between each other their average and record times for serving CVITP clients. The idea of providing quality service can get lost in the competition over who can do prepare and file the return fastest.
[iv] If either parent does not file their return in a timely manner, the Canada Child Benefits will stop being paid in July, the beginning of the next 12-month benefit period.