I suppose this belongs in the category of ‘we didn’t need a report to tell us that’, but the Canada Revenue Agency recently released an internal report that found its own communications were “poorly organized, confusing, unprofessional, unduly severe, bureaucratic, one-sided and just plain dense.” Ouch! In addition, the report found that “Often the main purpose of the documents was not readily apparent, and other important information was scattered throughout the document or embedded in dense paragraphs,” Many Canadians have experienced just that however, so if you are struggling to decipher your latest correspondence from the tax Department, take heart, you are not alone. You can see more here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/revenue-canada-s-letters-full-of-gobbledegook-internal-report-finds-1.2814181
Having reviewed many of these letters over the years I can only agree. The typical correspondence from the CRA is overly-technical in nature and often obscures exactly what they are asking the taxpayer to do, if anything. Even worse, many study participants reported understanding what the CRA was asking of them, when in fact, they did not understand. If in doubt, seek some help or call CRA directly for clarification. I have seen many times issues with the CRA escalate simply because of misunderstandings in communication. Get clarity before responding to any requests from the CRA and you can save yourself a lot of time and trouble.