Tax Centre Backlog Hits 47 Weeks—Union Demands More Staff
Canada Revenue Agency workers are drowning in complex tax adjustments, with processing delays reaching 47 weeks—more than double the standard. The union is calling for hundreds of new hires.
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Canada's tax processing system is grinding to a halt. The Canada Revenue Agency is taking as long as 47 weeks to resolve complex T1 tax adjustment requests—more than double its own 20-week service standard.
The taxpayer ombudsperson François Boileau launched an examination into the delays after his office was "swamped" with complaints. In the 2025-26 fiscal year, Boileau's office received 3,558 complaints, the highest count in three years, with staffing issues, training gaps, and reliance on non-permanent workers cited as root causes.
Marc Brière, president of the Union of Taxation Employees, is demanding hundreds of additional staff and better training at the taxation centre. He called T1 adjustments the "bread and butter" of CRA operations, affecting massive numbers of taxpayers each year.
"Why do you let people go when you know it's going to create a problem?" Brière said, pointing to the churn of temporary hires that erodes expertise and institutional knowledge.
The backlog creates a cascade of problems. As taxpayers wait months for returns, contact centre phone lines also jam up, creating what Boileau called "a vicious circle."
The CRA acknowledged the delays in a statement, saying it is training additional assessors to handle the workload. But without permanent positions and proper staffing levels, the agency faces a structural problem that temporary measures cannot fix.