Fraser Institute News Release: Compliance costs for Canadians filing personal income taxes in 2023 estimated at $4.2 billion
April 30 2024 - 5:00AM
Total compliance costs for filing personal income taxes in 2023 are
estimated at $130 per Canadian tax filer, or $4.2 billion
altogether, finds a new study published today by the Fraser
Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy
think-tank.
“Overall, compliance costs for personal income taxes and payroll
taxes represent a significant expense for Canadians in order to
facilitate a process already widely regarded by many Canadians as a
financial strain,” said Jake Fuss, director of fiscal studies at
the Fraser Institute.
Personal Income Tax Compliance for Canadians: How and at
What Cost? uses a new survey and finds that roughly half
of tax filers (50 per cent) prepared their 2022 income tax return
themselves while more than one third (37 per cent) used a paid tax
preparer.
Those preparing their own return tax report do so mainly (85 per
cent of self preparers) using some form of software.
The total compliance costs associated with filing 2022 personal
income taxes, estimated at $4.2 billion, is equivalent to 0.15 per
cent of national GDP. Furthermore, the total administrative and
compliance costs of collecting taxes in Canada is calculated to be
0.6 per cent of GDP.
The study suggests that one way to reduce these compliance costs
is to produce prefilled income tax reports for Canadians,
streamlining the process for taxpayers. Producing prefilled reports
is estimated to result in a drop of one third in total personal
income tax compliance costs for Canadians.
“If this process was more effectively streamlined for the
Canadian taxpayer, the federal government would be saving them not
only money, but time, another valuable resource expended during tax
season,” said Fuss.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Jake Fuss, Director, Fiscal StudiesFraser Institute
To arrange media interviews or for more information, please
contact:Drue MacPherson, Fraser Institute, (604) 688-0221 Ext.
721drue.macpherson@fraserinstitute.org
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The Fraser Institute is an independent Canadian public policy
research and educational organization with offices in Vancouver,
Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax and ties to a global
network of think-tanks in 87 countries. Its mission is to improve
the quality of life for Canadians, their families and future
generations by studying, measuring and broadly communicating the
effects of government policies, entrepreneurship and choice on
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