I have been looking forward to the Canada Revenue Agency’s release of its new personal tax app.
This is of particular personal interest, as about a decade back I penned an academic paper comparing the effectiveness of the CRA’s website to the offering of the Australian Tax Office (ATO). In my opinion, it was clear that the Aussies had a much better grasp of the available technology at that time, and were using it much more ably to communicate with their constituents.
In the intervening years, I have continued to have an interest in the CRA’s communication practices and adoption of emerging technologies. The agency has been making some noticeable strides toward more effectively engaging with taxpayers, in particular in its online services like MyAccount.
While MyAccount houses a taxpayer’s detailed information, streamlined access is also available by logging in using the “My tax information” button on the MyCRA webpage. On that page, there are also buttons for “My Payment, Benefit payment dates, Help with my taxes and Charity information”. These latter resources are general in nature (ie., not specific to the taxpayer), and do not require logging in.
An underwhelming release
Now that we are into the tablet era, focus shifts toward the importance of the app as a key communications portal.
For months the CRA has been signaling toward the February 2015 release of the personal MyCRA app, but as that month came to a close the ‘Mobile apps’ landing page within the CRA site still only had a link to the MyCRA webpage. But in a March 2 news release, CRA stated that it was “proud to announce the release of its new mobile app – MyCRA – available for all mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.”
I checked the App Store, and could not find what I was looking for, but that is not all that uncommon. My second stop was that CRA Mobile apps landing page, but it still simply linked to the MyCRA webpage. On that page however, there was now a hyperlinked phrase “Add to home page instructions”. Tapping there brings up an overlay window with simple instructions for placing “this web app” on the tablet’s home screen.
After completing the task, I went to the MyCRA icon now on the surface of my tablet and … it simply re-launched my browser, opening to the same MyCRA webpage I had just been on.
Minimal content, for now
Now I’m not an information technology expert, but I’m generally able to distinguish between an app and a bookmark. One is left to wonder whether this is the intended end product, or if a true MyCRA app could not be developed in time, and this became the fallback.
Still, perhaps I was getting too mired in the process. Perhaps the substance of the change was waiting behind the “My tax information” button, so I logged in. This gave me expected access to the status of my 2014 return (not yet filed), related notices of assessment and RRSP and TFSA contribution limits, and that was all.
While I would not dispute that this is important and useful information, in my opinion the experience falls short of the expectations the lead-up generated. Indeed, many of the items highlighted in the news release are those general information categories available without need to log in, let alone employ the “app” to launch the page in the first place.
In fairness, it appears that the MyCRA site (and the real app to follow?) is intended to be a platform for future communications (stating that it will house returns and assessments from 2014 on), and no doubt it will evolve. For the present though, this is a disappointing baby step as the CRA strives to improve its service delivery to taxpayers.