Tax Season CRA strike?

Hopefully it doesn’t come to this…but if it does; how will it impact the 2023 Tax Season.
Efile, AFR, Authorizations, …ect

According to the union that represents CRA agents (PSAC & UTE), the votes will be held from February 22 to April 19, 2023. My assumption is that during that time period, the agents won’t be striking until after the April 19 date.

I hope that all parties resolve the matter, especially since it will be approaching the April 30 tax deadline. If there is an eventual strike, I hope the CRA themselves grant an extension, but knowing the incompetency of upper management, I highly doubt it. Worse comes to worse, the federal government will pass a back to work legislation.

Announcements from the PSAC & UTE:

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Meh - let 'em strike.

We’ll just file as normal, wait longer than normal for assistance, and carry on like we always do, whether they change the date or not. Frankly, it shouldn’t affect filing even if the whole damn lot of them walked out…the computers will stay working, but processing will simply grind to a halt.

Not that their processing rates are anything to write home about now…

It will affect T2s FAR more.

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Strike or not the current CRA efficiency is unacceptable. I have 2 clients who December 2022 payroll remittances were misapplied to the wrong period by the CRA. After going through multiple security checks and back and further between collections and business inquiries, I was told by business inquiries that it would take 180 days (yes, 6 months!!!), to process the transfer for 2023 to 2022 tax year. In disbelief of the timeline, I ask the agent, why a simple transfer will take so long. His response was, “we cant control the processing time at the moment. If you are unhappy, please contact your MP.”

Only in public service (especially the CRA) is such inefficient bureaucracy allowed. In private sector if this occurred, it would result in heads rolling!

So frustrating…

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I’ve had a client go through a similar situation as yours. They said the same thing where it takes up to 180 days, although in my client’s situation, it was around the 60 day mark. Accidents happen, especially when doing payroll, you can explain to them about the situation and they will write it down on their file. I believe any sort of penalties would be waived.

Now in regards to CRA inefficiency, I’m currently dealing with a GST/HST auditor where they are incredibly slow with accepting our documents. They themselves had mentioned that they would provide an answer before 2022 tax season starts, hoping they keep their word…

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A strike is just a way of saying that “my job isn’t good enough for me”.

If my current career is not up to my personal standards, or what I feel I deserve then part of the freedom I enjoy living in a free country is the right to resign in order to find something that better aligns with my level of skill, motivation, work ethic, and entitlement.

My job is worth as much or as little as what the next competent person is willing to do it for. If the employer doesn’t offer enough in salary, benefits, working conditions, or pension (deferred compensation lol) they simply won’t attract any talent. If they offer enough incentive in those areas the jobs get filled. Insert the union and you end up with a bunch of people who hate their job, perpetually count the number of days until their retirement, and over time become inefficient at performing the tasks they were hired to perform.

My experience over the last few years in dealing with government (municipal, provincial, and federal) suggests that “working from home” does not work in the public sector. People have become even less motivated to do their jobs. Now they are upset when requested to report back to work. If they wanted the whole “covid-19 working from home” ordeal to become a permanent solution people should have done their best to increase efficiency and productivity and prove that it could work. :slightly_smiling_face:

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It did work quite well for a LOT of people and departments. Seems you’re painting the entire thing like one small slice of the pie.

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I am not too proud to admit when I am wrong, so I will rephrase…

Although they must out there; I have yet to have the pleasure of interacting with the government agency or department that has experienced an increase in efficiency or customer service as a result of their staff working from home. Unfortunately, my experiences to date have been the opposite… but I’m optimistic. :wink:

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I received the following Feb 2nd:

"On January 10, 2023, PSAC-UTE announced that they launched a nationwide strike vote for 35,000 CRA employees, after talks with the CRA broke down over wages and remote work. The strike votes will be conducted from January 31 to April 7, 2023. Workers at CRA have been without a contract for more than a year, and the union declared an impasse in September 2022.

While strike votes are underway, PSAC-UTE and CRA will proceed to Public Interest Commission (PIC) hearings on January 27th and February 20th with the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board. The hearings are expected to produce non-binding recommendations for an agreement and are anticipated in the spring.

Once the Commission issues its report, PSAC-UTE will be in a legal strike position if voting provides a strike mandate. So, if the CRA does strike, there is a very good chance it will be in April sometime.

Note: a wage proposal presented to the CRA by PSAC-UTE in July 2022 calls for a 9% wage increase effective November 1, 2021 (to level the playing field with Canada Border Service Agency members) and then a 4.5% increase retroactive to November 1, 2021; an 8% increase retroactive to November 1, 2022; and an 8% increase effective November 1, 2023. That represents a cumulative 32.9% total increase in salary over a two-year period (from Nov 2021 to Nov 2023)."

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I have found that ANY phone service, not just CRA, results in a limited commitment to solving a problem. It’s like winning the lottery to get someone by phone to stick with you and push to solve a problem.

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My feelings exactly, snowplowguy. If you are not happy with what you have, feel free to go find the job that meets ALL of YOUR needs. I think many highly paid folks may find out that what they have is way better than what most others have.

Pat Gamborg

PAT’s OFFICE

1354 Fed Rd.

Bear River NS B0S 1B0

902-467-3358

Agreed! When I do get a successful phone service call, I really go out of my way to praise the individual who was so helpful.

Pat Gamborg

PAT’s OFFICE

1354 Fed Rd.

Bear River NS B0S 1B0

902-467-3358

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Ha thats nothing, the CRA accidently processed a clients T4 TWICE! and it took 9 month to “delete” the replica T4, whats wrong personal tax filing as assessed and collections after the client during those 9 months asking to pay up

Or, they realize now is the time to demand whatever they want, because they know they can get it. Across Canada (and USA), there is such a shortage of accountants, CRA can’t afford to let them go.

Looks more like click bait than news but still not enough money…

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LOL. I’m not making that much as a business owner with two employees. But, if I could have found such a job 6 years ago, I wouldn’t have started my own firm. Even with an accounting degree and over ten years of experience, I couldn’t find anything paying more than $50,000. Now, I can’t even hire a part-time bookkeeper for $50,000.

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But you are only six years in and you don’t look that old, I’m at 30 years, grew the business over that time. In the long run way better than working for someone else.

I’m honestly tempted to shut my business down and apply for one of their jobs. More security, steady income, instead of seasonal, and not having to worry year-to-year if I’m going to have clients coming back… Not to mention marketing (ugh!).

Thanks for the compliment @jimt ! I’ll be 55 this year, but accounting is my second career. For me, now, I wouldn’t want to start over as an employee; even at CRA for $100,000+. Six years ago, I definitely would have.

I’m sure CRA isn’t limiting their recruitment to professionals with 10 or 20 years of experience. They will be lucky to find people with ANY experience. Six years ago, the big firms around here were hiring new university graduates for $30,000 and they had plenty to choose from. Now they have to compete with CRA to attract young kids with zero experience and pay them $90,000. It’s no wonder the existing staff at CRA are threatening to strike.

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I agree with @Nezar.
I’ve had my practice for 8 years now, I like my job and build a professional relationship with clients but it is a difficult job. With the countless number of unnecessary changes being proposed by the federal/provincial governments and the CPA association every year which makes our tax code even more complicated, I have been thinking on re-evaluating the financial position of my firm and myself in the next 10 years, sort of like deciding about a potential exit plan strategy. I’m in my early 30s with a decent financial position, which I understand is a luxury that others may not have, however with the way things are going, I may definitely look into that. With the rise in cost for food, rent, software, association fees, labour, etc, it’s really a struggle. I also have diversified my income from accounting/tax prep to investing in the stock market, so as to not having my income in one basket. That way if whenever the CPA association ever does decide to restrict non-CPA firms from continuing their business, I won’t be totally screwed over.

The good thing with our expertise as owners of firms, is that we have a vast amount of knowledge from our day to day professional experience. This may lead to new opportunities being opened which I would not have imagined if I had not started my firm to begin with. Despite the benefits and perks on working for the government, it takes up to 18 months to get accepted into a position, like auditing (SP-05 or SP-08). I have more preference towards the private sector like industry accounting or becoming a business consultant. We’ll see what lies in the future :smiley:

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