Reduced staff at Sudbury's CRA office due to COVID-19 pandemic

The union representing tax centre workers across Canada says the majority of employees are now working from home.

Marc Brière, the national president of the union of taxation employees, says last week, the union raised concerns about employees still working at the office.

"Some people are teleworking and some are still working at the Sudbury office," he said.

"We have less than 300 people working daily at the tax centre in Sudbury. Just to give you an idea, a week ago, there were 2,100 there."

Brière says the changes have helped ease staff fears.

"Less people in the building, more people tele-working, obviously it's helping out," he said.

"I think we're in a better place than we were a week ago."

He says a lot of work in the tax centre has been shut down or postponed until further notice after the federal government pushed back the deadline for Canadians to file their taxes.

"We are taking care of priorities to make sure Canadians get the benefits that they're counting on, like the GST, HST credits, the child tax benefits," he said.

"The agency is working to prepare for the next programs being announced. We're having daily discussions with the CRA. They are re-aligning their resources to make sure they can deliver these benefits."

Briére says staff will continue to work to help implement the new programs.

"Our members are trying to provide a service as best they can but obviously there will be an impact," he said.

"Obviously there might be some delays but we're trying to make sure it's being processed as soon as possible."