Public Accounts committee  Sure. We were able to use an acknowledgement of our furniture, filing cabinets, chairs and those types of things. That's what we based our savings on. We had the moratorium, so if you were looking to buy a new desk or a new chair, we wanted to make sure if we had that—

Public Accounts committee  No, it is sustainable. We looked at our savings over three years, and each year we had savings by virtue of doing that.

Finance committee  It is approximately $80 million from central vote 40, which is related to budget 2018 for this year.

Finance committee  What I can say with regard to that is that we can't commit to the exact numbers that have been provided for you in that centralized vote. We need to be able to develop our Treasury Board submissions to justify the dollar amounts we're seeking. In order to do that, we will have the opportunity to make a case to access those funds.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to present Canada Revenue Agency's main estimates for 2018-19 and to answer any questions that you may have on the associated funding. As you're aware, the CRA is responsible for the administration of federal and certain provincial and territorial tax programs, as well as for the delivery of a number of benefit payment programs.

Finance committee  It would be very hard to pick out a piece of the program associated with that, but that's not money that we've received additional. If we have any efforts under way right now, they have been ongoing for a number of years. It would be no different. It's not money that we would have received additional.

Finance committee  The amount you'll be voting on is the interim estimates, which is the $822 million, which represents roughly one-quarter of our needs. We will come back, I think, in mid-April, when the main estimates are tabled, and that's when we'll be able to talk about the broader envelope that we have for the agency.

Finance committee  Good afternoon, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to present the Canada Revenue Agency's interim estimates for 2018-19, and to answer any questions you may have on the associated funding. As you are aware, the CRA is responsible for the administration of federal and certain provincial and territorial tax programs, as well as the delivery of a number of benefit payment programs.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the question and the point of clarification. Sometimes we use words interchangeably. In order to create a reserve, you take resources from other areas of the organization and you put it into a reserve. When you have a pressure in any organization that you're working with and it's immediate and it's urgent, you will look at where you have potential flexibility within existing resources to address that pressure.

Finance committee  Oh, we do have it. For next year we are roughly estimating around $4 million, so it's a bigger number.

Finance committee  Well, if you think about it, the tax year is starting on April 1, 2018, so this is for money.... A lot of the work that we're going to do is going to start to ramp up as we get into tax season. That's why you're seeing a much more significant number. It will be based on our experience from this past year in terms of the support that we would have needed.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  In terms of some of the background notes that I have, Public Services and Procurement Canada, which is responsible for the management of Phoenix, has estimated that between 100,000 and 150,000 amended tax slips will be required, so that's the neighbourhood.

Finance committee  The 1.3 that we're asking for has nothing to do directly with our employees within the agency. The 1.3 is related to the support that our tax specialists will provide to all federal public servants who are having problems with Phoenix. It's not an internal CRA issue. It's related to CRA providing support to all federal public servants who are having problems with their T4s.

Finance committee  It's really hard to tell right now. It will depend on what kinds of improvements happen to the system. It will depend on whether the backlog reduces. There are too many variables to really have a good sense of what that would look like.