If you have some last-minute questions about your annual tax returns, the Canada Revenue Agency is bracing for your call. The federal tax agency is approaching the revised June 1 tax deadline after several weeks of fielding an unprecedented volume of calls — nearly three million phone calls since the COVID-19 pandemic struck Canada and the world.
The agency, which employs more than 40,000 workers across the country, quickly started moving a large portion of its workforce, including call centre employees, to work from home just as COVID-19 started triggering economic lockdowns across the country.
But as many other businesses were shutting down or suspending operations, the CRA faced a relentless stream of calls about new and revised COVID-19