The 2026 tax season has unusually high stakes for the Canada Revenue Agency.

Two years ago, complex new regulations about bare trusts and vacant homes caused so much confusion among taxpayers and accountants, that many of the rules had to be suspended, rewritten or scrapped. Last year, chaos ensued from the Trudeau government’s 11th-hour reversal on the capital-gains tax hike, along with technical issues that resulted in missing tax slips for many people.

This year is the CRA’s chance to show it understands the assignment: Running tax season without any egregious hiccups.

It won’t be only taxpayers keeping their fingers crossed for no more bad surprises. The agency’s political bosses are bound to be watching closely, too.

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In September, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced a 100-day plan to improve CRA call centre delays and service standards. The tax agency has since ramped up staffing and announced a slew of initiatives meant to shorten wait times. The upcoming tax season will also be a test of whether Mr. Champagne’s intervention worked.

There are some reasons to hope for no more major snafus. One of them is Prime Minister Mark Carney’s restrained first federal budget, which delivered few changes to personal income taxes and benefits last fall.

Business as usual means the CRA hasn’t had to rush to change tax forms to reflect last-minute reforms and won’t be fielding queries from Canadians and tax preparers unfamiliar with them.

That’s a stark difference from the past two years under Justin Trudeau’s government. For example, the new tax rules on trusts that roiled the 2024 tax season were so difficult to administer that they prompted the federal Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson to issue a rare rebuke of the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for developing tax policy.

(In the same report, the Ombudsperson also found several shortcomings with the CRA itself, particularly for waiting far too long to pause the bare trust rules.)

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A few days into 2025, the agency faced another curve ball when the Trudeau government fell without having passed legislation to support its proposed increase to the capital gains tax. The change sent both the CRA and taxpayers scrambling for answers.

But even without massive new tax changes or policy reversals complicating the upcoming tax season, the CRA will have to show it has made palpable progress addressing chronic service issues.

In an update on its website last month, the agency promised “easier, faster, and more straightforward” tax-filing along with better support for taxpayers.

In December, the CRA said the percentage of incoming taxpayer calls it was answering on average rose from 35 per cent to 70 per cent after it reversed recent cuts to call centre staff. But the true test will be what share of Canadians can get through to an agent during peak traffic times closer to the tax-filing deadlines.

To help reduce the volume of incoming calls, the CRA has also rolled out more digital self-help options that should allow Canadians to resolve common issues entirely online.

For example, as part of the 100-day plan, taxpayers locked out of their online CRA accounts can now reset their log-in credentials online, without having to connect with an agent.

It has also been rewriting some of its online pages to make sure the content is easier to understand. One such recent edit has raised the percentage of users who manage to register for a CRA account on their own from less than 45 per cent to more than 90 per cent, the tax agency said.

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But a cursory review of recently updated tax information by The Globe and Mail suggests there are still kinks to be worked out.

For instance, another new online feature allows Canadians who owe $1,000 or more in tax debts or benefit overpayments to schedule instalment payments without connecting with an officer.

But as of early February, the CRA’s page with instructions on how to set up payment arrangements contained outdated information that still directed taxpayers to call an agent for plans that can be now set up online. The CRA quickly updated the page after The Globe flagged the issue.

More importantly, the agency has yet to announce a bold new solution for the other long-standing issue with its call centres: Even when someone does pick up the phone, Canadians are often getting inaccurate responses. In a scathing report last year, Federal Auditor-General Karen Hogan found that CRA agents give out incorrect information almost 30 per cent of the time.

Fixing that issue should stay at the top of Ottawa’s agenda. Regaining the public’s trust requires both faster and more reliable answers.