From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Canada Revenue Agency full of gobbledegook : CRA SOTW   
      
      
   Revenue Canada's letters full of gobbledegook, internal report finds   
   Tax notices are so confusing, recipients are often not sure whether they owe   
   money, study finds    
   By Dean Beeby, CBC News   
      
   The next time you puzzle over an indecipherable letter or notice from the   
   Canada Revenue Agency, don't blame yourself: even the tax department   
   acknowledges it churns out a lot of gobbledegook.   
      
   A study of the agency last month confirms the millions of communications that   
   bureaucrats send to taxpayers each year are poorly organized, confusing,   
   unprofessional, unduly severe, bureaucratic, one-sided and just plain dense.   
      
   All that gibberish comes with a human cost: confused taxpayers swamp the   
   agency's call centres with needless telephone inquiries, or they send   
   thousands of letters to tax offices asking for clarification.   
      
   And Canadians who receive government benefit cheques sometimes get cut off   
   without cause because they don't understand the unintelligible letters the   
   agency sends to them asking for information.   
      
   The findings appear in an internal evaluation of the 130 million pieces of   
   mail that tax officials issue each year to businesses, charitable groups and   
   individual taxpayers, virtually all of it through Canada Post rather than   
   electronically.   
      
   A New York-based consultant firm hired to examine a cross-section of CRA's   
   letters found the "information was not well organized, (the) presentation of   
   information did not inspire confidence; and (the) tone used lacked empathy."   
      
   "Often the main purpose of the documents was not readily apparent, and other   
   important information was scattered throughout the document or embedded in   
   dense paragraphs," Siegelvision said in its $25,000 review for the government.   
      
   Misunderstood letters   
      
   The evaluation included an online survey of taxpayers by another firm, which   
   asked respondents to examine a typical CRA notice that required the recipient   
   to send the tax agency money. About half of those surveyed could not figure   
   out they were supposed    
   to write a cheque to the government because the document was so poorly written.   
      
   Worse, many of those surveyed claimed they understood the sample document when   
   in fact they did not, says the $90,000 survey from TNS Canada Ltd.   
      
   'Participants ... often do not understand much of the information expressed in   
   the letters they receive'   
   - Consultant report for Canada Revenue Agency   
   Separate work commissioned from the Walker Consulting Group in 2012-2013 found   
   that taxpayers they interviewed considered the letters and notices to be full   
   of gibberish.   
      
   "Participants indicated that they often do not understand much of the   
   information expressed in the letters they receive," said the Walker report.   
      
   "Many indicated a degree of frustration about not understanding various pieces   
   of information contained in letters from the CRA."   
      
   The Siegelvision study also compared the CRA's standard communications with   
   those of the Internal Revenue Service in the United States, which in July 2008   
   began a major initiative to improve the clarity and accuracy of its   
   correspondence.   
      
   American versions clearly indicated that the taxpayer owed the government   
   money, while the CRA equivalents were confusing, with long preambles and weak   
   presentation. The agency's correspondence also compared poorly with tax   
   letters and notices in    
   Australia, Britain and the province of Quebec.   
      
   The evaluation blames the problem partly on older letter-generating software   
   at the CRA that offers bureaucrats little flexibility in customizing or   
   improving their communications.   
      
   The agency said it accepts the findings, and plans to consult businesses this   
   fall to find ways to improve clarity, as part of a "red-tape reduction"   
   initiative.   
      
   Looking for feedback   
      
   "The CRA will also engage Canadians to solicit their feedback on how to   
   improve our correspondence with them," beginning next year, spokesman Philippe   
   Brideau said.   
      
   The Canada Revenue Agency says it plans to boost the clarity of its   
   communications as part of a new initiative starting in February next year.   
   (Kady O'Malley/CBC News)   
      
   The agency plans a new service in February that will allow individuals to   
   receive correspondence online, and will use the opportunity to improve   
   clarity, Brideau said. Businesses have been offered a similar secure email   
   service since 2013.   
      
   "Over the next 18 months, the most common letters and notices that the CRA   
   generates, constituting more than 60 million pieces of correspondence a year,   
   will be available online to Canadians in simplified, easier-to-understand   
   formats," Brideau said in    
   an email.   
      
   Officials also plan to hire a third-party consultant to help rewrite the   
   templates for standard correspondence.   
      
   A senior executive at Siegelvision, the New York firm hired by CRA to conduct   
   the review, declined to discuss its work for the agency, but said any   
   organization needs to adopt a "blank slate" approach to communications rather   
   than try to improve them    
   incrementally or piecemeal.   
      
   Irene Etzkorn, the company's chief clarity officer, also said an organization   
   needs a "high-level executive champion to overcome a lot of bureaucratic   
   inertia."   
      
   Follow @DeanBeeby on Twitter   
      
      
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