Loyal readers know I have been tracking the federal government’s work on automatic tax filing for low-income Canadians ever since it was first announced in the 2020 Speech from the Throne. After six years of delay, some social policy advocates predict that the announcement by the Prime Minister a few weeks ago will be a game-changer for delivering benefits and reducing poverty.
My own experience as a volunteer with the Canada Revenue Agency’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), however, leaves me sceptical. I believe the CRA’s current vision of automatic tax filing is unlikely to deliver the improvements promised – especially for those who have not been filing returns and missing out on benefits. Here is why.
1The first article in this three-part series, “SimpleFile in 2024 and 2025”, examines the pilot the CRA launched in 2024 and continued to promote in 2025. This was the CRA’s initial response in the government’s push for automatic tax filing.
As the evidence shows, SimpleFile has been an abysmal failure – despite the CRA’s claims to the contrary. The evidence speaks for itself – read the article and judge for yourself using the CRA’s own numbers.
2The second article, “Further Experimentation in 2026”, reviews the CRA’s evolving plans, which use the SimpleFile invitation – if not its filing methods – as a pathway toward automatic tax filing. It’s an interesting development, but one fraught with challenges that may limit adoption of this new form of automatic filing.
Moreover, individuals who have not filed a return in the last two or more years – and are therefore missing benefits – will be excluded. The CRA is also unlikely to prepare pre-filled returns for past years, even when those years could mean substantial missed benefits. Individuals will need outside help to prepare and file those returns.
3The third article, “Be Careful What You Wish For in 2027”, looks at the Prime Minister’s recent announcement of a large-scale rollout and considers what may unfold between 2027 and 2029. The CRA plans to rely heavily on technology to deliver automatic tax filing. This initiative will likely shift low-income Canadians who already file returns and get benefits from one filing method to another. By preparing returns itself, the CRA could, in theory at least, bypass intermediaries such as the CVITP.
Yet many individuals already find CRA documentation and correspondence confusing. Many recipients of pre-filled returns will likely turn to trusted sources for help in understanding their pre-filled return and for advice before consenting to the CRA’s filing.
The CVITP is well positioned to provide this support free of charge. With some 3,500 host organizations and 18,000 volunteers embedded in communities across Canada, it is a trusted network. This article argues that by adapting the CVITP to help meet these challenges, the CRA could significantly boost adoption of automatic tax filing.
Across the three articles, I argue that by design, the CRA’s automatic tax filing initiative is unlikely to help low-income Canadians who have not been filing returns or receiving benefits. Yet this was the originally rationale for introducing automatic tax filing. Given its community roots and more than 50 years of earned trust, the CVITP remains the best option for fulfilling that promise.