OTTAWA — An internal Canada Revenue Agency audit has found nearly 129,000 tax collection accounts were returned to an unassigned inventory without a process to track or monitor them, prompting Conservatives to accuse the Liberal government of mismanaging tax collections.The audit, released earlier this year, examined the CRA's Accounts Receivable National Inventory program, which is responsible for collecting tax debts under $1 million.It found the agency resolved 171,796 accounts and collected more than $8.29 billion during the 2024-25 fiscal year, but also identified several weaknesses in how unpaid tax files were managed. Among its findings, auditors said 611 inventories had collapsed, resulting in 128,958 accounts being transferred back into an unassigned inventory."There is no process to track, monitor, or manage collapsed inventories," the audit said, adding that collection files can remain unassigned until redistributed manually.The audit also found the CRA was not consistently monitoring some payment arrangements and said performance reporting did not fully reflect collection activities, recommending stronger oversight and better workload management..Conservative national revenue critic Jasraj Hallan seized on the findings Tuesday, saying the audit shows the agency is failing to properly manage unpaid taxes despite expanded resources."In the 2024/25 fiscal year, the CRA collected more than $8 billion in unpaid taxes. Yet its own auditors found that the Agency does not properly track collection files, monitor broken payment plans or ensure accounts are assigned to the right officers," Hallan said."In just one year, nearly 129,000 accounts were dumped back into a pool of unassigned cases."Hallan contrasted the audit findings with the CRA's enforcement against individual taxpayers and small businesses."While the CRA cannot properly track its own collection files, it aggressively pursues both small businesses and individual citizens," he said."Honest taxpayers face threatening letters, mounting interest, frozen bank accounts and liens, even while waiting for the CRA to review their documents or correct their own mistakes."Hallan also renewed Conservative criticism of the CRA's handling of corporate tax write-offs, noting the agency wrote off $1.2 billion owed by 11 companies during the 2023-24 fiscal year while refusing to identify the corporations involved.He called on Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne to explain "how the Liberals allowed this mess to happen and what his plan is to fix it."Hallan also urged the Senate to pass Conservative MP Adam Chambers' Bill C-230, which would require the creation of a public registry listing companies and partnerships with at least $2 million in federal debt that has been written off or forgiven.The CRA audit concluded that management agreed with its recommendations and committed to improving inventory management, workload monitoring and performance reporting within the collections program
