Tax Auditor

The topic of the report is an exploration of a career option and a Tax Auditor at Canada Revenue Agency. The purposes of this report are to not only prepare myself for the position by examining and learning but also introduce a different field of work to colleagues All residents in Canada must pay a tax and Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), formally known as Revenue Canada, is a federal agency that has as its main function the administration of Canadian tax laws for most of the provinces and territories of Canada. In addition, the CRA manages several social and economic tax programs such as the Canada Child Tax Benefit program and the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) credit program. There are several departments in CRA and we will focus on the Audit position.

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, a tax audit is the “examination of taxpayers’ books and record to determine accurately the taxes, interest and penalties payable under the law.” Also Auditors are responsible for complying with individuals and corporations requests too. Therefore, auditors are the one of the largest components of CRA. (barrettaxlaw) Included in this report are educational background and experience required, duties and responsibilities, working conditions, salary and benefits, career advancement, and Auditor Apprenticeship Program (AAP). The information for the report was gathered mainly from Canada Revenue Agency and Alberta Occupational Profiles (OOC) web sites. Also an interview was conducted for primary source with Ross who worked for CRA for 33 years as a Tax Auditor.

Your Future Stars Here
The details of the Audit position at CRA will be explored. There are seven important parts which must be recognized and be fully aware of. Below are the lists of seven important areas. 1.Educational Background and Experience required

1.1.Requirements (Blair)
•Eligibility for recognized professional accounting designation (CGA,CMA,CA) or •Graduation with a degrees from a recognized post-secondary institution with an acceptable specialization in accounting 1.2.Skills (Alberta learning information serivce, 1995)

•Good command of the English language
•Professional written and oral communication skills
•Logical analysis ability
•Good interviewing skills with taxpayers, accountants and lawyers 1.3.Experience (Canada Revenue Agency)
•Recent and significant experience in any of the following areas above 12 months within the last 5years Accounting
Auditing entities to ensure compliance with Federal or Provincial legislation Auditing of corporations or other similar entities to ensure compliance with internal policies, procedures, or guidelines Preparing corporate and individual Income Tax/GST returns Interpreting and understanding the Income Tax Act or the Excise Tax Act.

2.Duties and Responsibilities
2.1.Main Duties & Responsibilities
•Conducting audits of taxpayers’ returns, books, records, taxpayer requests, and supporting documents to confirm and enforce compliance with the statutes administered by the CRA (Christine Kim) •having adequate verification procedures for all the fields in a tax return, •Ranking tax returns for verification according to risk

•Capturing complete and accurate results of its verifications •Making reasonable use of information slips that the law requires third parties to submit to the Agency (General., 2005)

2.2.Legal Obligations
•All information received from an individual taxpayers, corporation or trust is confidential •Requesting information only of the auditor has a “need to know” that information to complete his/her audit (Ross, 2012)

3.Working Environment (Blair)
•Overtime required at year end or to meet project deadlines •Travel required across the city or province
•The code of Ethics and Conduct designed guide and support staff in work

4.Salary and Benefits
4.1.Salary
Seven levels are positioned at auditing and different rate of pay is set up. AU – Auditing
Annual Rates of Pay (in dollars)
Effective date: Dec. 2011

Table 1: Pay Rates (Canada Revenue Agency)
4.2.Benefits (Canada Revenue Agency)
•A package of group benefits which include health, dental, and disability insurance plans •Benefits after retirement
Entitled in the form of a Monthly pension
Continue the Public Service Health Care Plan(PSHCP)
Keep the group benefits
•Continuous Learning
For employees who want to upgrade or acquire new knowledge and skills related to career goals and departmental priorities, the Educational Assistance Policy is available

5.Career Advancement
Lots of opportunities are available within the tax departments after obtaining the knowledge of taxation and experiences. As the range of salary searched, there are seven levels in Auditing positions and each has two to eight steps to be promoted. We also work on different sections such as oil and gas, small business and farmers, and special investigations regarding tax fraud and avoidance. There are formal training and development programs including the Internal Recruitment Apprenticeship Program and Middle Management Development Program. (Canada Revenue Agency) Also there are many recruitment proposals and high demand for Auditors from large accounting firms. (Ross, 2012)

6.Auditor Apprenticeship Program
CRA provides ‘Student and Graduate Hiring’ system which is part of an external recruitment. One of the programs is AAP, Auditor Apprenticeship Program. This program is for full-time or part time college and university students in their final year of a diploma or degree program from recognized institution in accounting, finance, business administration, commerce or similar specialty relevant to an auditing position.

No prior experience in accounting or auditing is necessary. In order to be eligible for this program, you must complete three courses at least; Introductory Accounting
Intermediate Accounting I
Intermediate Accounting II

Once you are hired, you will;
Perform audits on a variety of small owner-operated businesses Get training program such as legislation, audit techniques, and computer applications Network with other Apprentices
Participate over a 12 month period

Apprentices will be appointed at the SP-4 group and level with a starting salary of $49,015 during of the program. Upon successful completion of the program, apprentices will then be appointed to an SP-05 Tax Auditor position, in which the expected salary is currently $53,053. Also future developmental opportunities may lead to more advanced specialties in audit. (Canada Revenue Agency)  Conclusion

According to Ross who was interview mention, you need to command of professional oral and written communication skills in English and should obtain one of the accounting designations such as CGA, CMA or CA to become an Auditor at CRA. (Ross, 2012) All information received is confidential therefore Auditors can only access the information when it is needed to know and taking any information out is not allowed. Travel across Canada is required and overtime work will be asked during busy season. Fairness and equality is what we can use to define CRA. A compliance organization making sure people pay their fair share of contribution for the economic well-being our country. (Yadav, 2010) Therefore Strong ethics and conducts are designed to Auditors.

Also one year experience in accounting field is required. CRA offers employment opportunities to students in the final year of their degree program. Through the AAP program students will have a chance to perform audits, get training about legislation and computer applications. Upon completion of the AAP program, students who want to work at CRA after graduation will be qualified for the Audit position, and able to accomplish the job at CRA with opportunities of advancement. Once experience accumulated, you will have a change to get up to $120,577.00 in salary with benefits such as retirement pension. Even though there are challenges in the job while working at CRA because you must work with many different personalities and understand the workings of many different types of businesses, there was satisfaction assisting different people to understand the Income Tax Act and the application of its provisions.