Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am pleased to be here to discuss the Canada Revenue Agency's action plan in relation to Report 7 of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada on the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy.
With me today are the Assistant Commissioners of the agency, whom you have already introduced.
First I want to recognize the excellent work of the agency employees who had the daunting task of developing this wage subsidy and its calculator in record time in order to support millions of Canadian businesses and workers in the challenging context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their speed of execution was remarkable, and I offer them my sincere thanks. We are all truly proud of what they were able to achieve.
In report 7, the OAG made three recommendations addressed to the agency, and we accept them all: one, to strengthen its efforts toward tax compliance for GST/HST; two, to use automated validations with a unique identifier across programs; and three, to use business intelligence information as soon as it is available to conduct targeted audits.
With regard to the first recommendation, the agency will identify opportunities within the GST/HST delinquent filer program to improve filing compliance on the part of GST/HST registrants. The agency will review workload selection and prioritization criteria within this program to identify areas of improvement as applicable.
We will determine if program resources are allocated optimally and are sufficient to deliver on program expectations. The agency will also identify potential legislative changes that could support filing compliance.
Finally, the agency will identify additional ways to educate and support businesses regarding GST/HST registration and filing obligations in order to promote future compliance.
In the second recommendation, the OAG suggested that the agency should use automated validations with a unique identifier across programs in order to improve the integrity and validation efficiency of future emergency programs. In addition, the OAG also noted that the SIN, the unique identifier for individuals, comes with limitations, such as privacy issues and identity theft.
We acknowledge these observations and in collaboration with Employment and Social Development Canada, we are working in partnership with the Treasury Board Secretariat on its Sign-In Canada platform. Sign-In Canada will facilitate access to Government online services through a secure digital ID that is mapped to departmental programs. We expect the Sign-In Canada platform to be available in the next 24 to 36 months, at which time the agency will commence its onboarding activities.
At the same time, the agency also continues to enhance its authentication and credential management systems through multi-factor authentication. This solution is currently being rolled out to all users of the agency's portal services. Full roll-out is expected to be completed in June of 2021.
Lastly, regarding the third recommendation, the agency agrees that the timeliness of compliance actions is very important. To this end, the agency is continuously investing to improve its risk assessment systems and business intelligence to better focus its resources, in a timely manner, on the highest-risk cases of non-compliance at a national level.
Notably, the agency is working with the aid of risk assessment algorithms, which use data to help the agency quickly identify applications that warrant more careful examination. These algorithms are frequently updated and improved as the agency learns more about the common patterns in CEWS applications, and also to reflect changes to the CEWS legislation. Phase one is under way. Phase two, which will begin in September 2021, will maximize the results obtained in phase one, which will then inform and improve the risk assessment process for targeted audits as a whole.
As a result, in December 2021 the agency expects to produce its final report on this recommendation, which will include the best practices learned. These can be used as a basis for future targeted audits.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd be happy to answer your questions.