Statistics Canada
Statistique Canada
Use of Tax Data in
the Unified Enterprise Survey (UES)
Workshop on Use of
Administrative Data in Economics Statistics
Marie Brodeur
Moscow
November, 2006
Overview of the presentation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
UES Background
Integrated Approach Principles
Survey Characteristics
Business Register
Sampling
Achievements and Future Directions
Use of Tax Data
Research and development
1. UES Background
Major project to improve provincial statistics
(1996)
Reliable Annual Provincial Data for the
Allocation of HST Revenues (SNA I-O Tables)
More detailed Industry & Commodity data
Creation of Enterprise Statistics Division
(ESD)
UES Pilot (RY 1997) -- 7 surveys
Gradual Expansion of Surveys; Covers 65% of
GDP
2. Integrated Approach Principles
Use of Single, Unduplicated Frame -- the BR
Expanded coverage
Common Sample Design Methodology
Integrated Questionnaire -- common /
simple language; harmonized concepts /
variables
Centralized Data Collection at the Statistical
Establishment level
2. Integrated Approach Principles
(continued)
Common Generic Processing Systems and
Methods
Centralized Warehouse
Head Office Survey
Maximum Use of Tax Data
Annual Profiling of Large Enterprises
Enterprise Portfolio Managers
3. Survey Characteristics
Separate Enterprise & Establishment
Surveys
Over 50 Establishment Surveys
Over 55,000 collection entities representing
about 68,000 establishments (17K replaced
by tax for RY 2005)
Centralized Collection -- $3.5 million
budget
Smallest businesses estimated through tax
4. Business Register (BR)
BR covers all sectors
Incorporated and unincorporated
businesses
Complex and simple enterprises
Structure
Legal
Operational
Statistical (Enterprise & Establishment)
Updated with Administrative Data
5. Sampling
Stratified Random Sample
 Industry (NAICS 4)
 Province
 Size
1 Take-all stratum
2 Take-some strata (50% of units replaced
by tax)
Take-none strata (under Royce-Maranda
thresholds)
Stratification in One Look
Cell
Sampling revenue
Take-all
Take-some 2
Must
take
units
Take-some 1
Take-none
Royce-Maranda (RM)
Exclusion Thresholds:
•To reduce response
burden on small
enterprises
Sampling Process
BR
(2.3M businesses)
Survey Universe File
(2M businesses)
Sample Control File
(2M businesses)
UES Sample
(70K businesses)
Survey Interface File
38K CEs / Questionnaires
Tax Est’d
(1.4M)
55K
CEs
Tax Replacements
17K CEs
6. Achievements
Timeliness
Centralized Processing Systems
and Databases
Response Burden
Use of Tax Data
6a. Timeliness
Very problematic during start-up years
Many processing systems in development
Problems with questionnaires
Task force created in 2001
Target: 15 months after reference year
Since RY 2003, all surveys between 12-15
month period
6b. Centralized Processing Systems
and Databases
Develop centralized systems
 Move away from stand-alone
 Single point of access for security
Integrated Questionnaire Metadata System
Edit and imputation
Allocation and Estimation
Data Warehouse
Centralized Collection
Pre-Contact
(17K Businesses)
Mailout
(38K CEs)
Receipt
(75% target)
Score Function
Edit / Verification
(BLAISE)
“Clean” Records
Capture / Imaging
Delinquent Follow-Up
Post-Collection Processing
“Clean” Records
Pre-Grooming
Tax
Data
Central Data
Store
USTART
Edit & Imputation
Allocation /
Estimation
Subject Matter
Review & Correction
Tool
7. Use of Tax data
Significant process since 1997
Strategic Streamlining Initiative
Result
Almost 65% of units replaced by tax data
Impact of 27% in the total estimate
Streamlining Initiatives at STC
Announced in 2002
Objectives
Maintaining quality
Create efficiencies
Enhance work flows
Identify trade-offs
Expand the use of tax data for survey
replacement
T1\T2 Project
Objective is to substitute 50% of simple
establishments.
Direct Data Replacement for annual
surveys using
T1(unincorporated)
T2 (incorporated)
Facilitated by the Chart of Accounts
(COA).
Types of Administrative (Tax) Data
From the Canadian Revenue
Agency (CRA)
Agreement between CRA and STC
T1 (unincorporated businesses)
T2 (incorporated businesses)
T4 (pay slips)
GST (goods and service tax)
PD7 (payroll deduction accounts)
Processing of Tax Data
Edit erroneous reports
Outlier detection
Eliminate duplication
Impute for missing values
Annualize in case of monthly data
Stratification in One Look
Cell
Sampling revenue
Take-all
Take-some 2
Must
take
units
Take-some 1
Take-none
Royce-Maranda (RM)
Exclusion Thresholds:
•To reduce response
burden on small
enterprises
RY2005 Methodology: Tax Replacement
T1
T2
Main sample
Main
sampleto
tobe
besurveyed
surveyed
Not eligible for tax : questionnaire
Characteristic survey (some Services surveys)
or questionnaire (all other divisions)
Tax replaced
ROYCE-MARANDA THRESHOLDS
T1 TakeNone:
Sample of
e-filers
T2 Take-None:
Census of General
Index of Financial
Information (GIFI)
UES: Use of Tax Data
 Validation (comparison)
Verify dubious collected data against the
equivalent tax data record
 Imputation
One of the methods used for non-response
 Estimation
Below take-none
Direct Data Replacement
Some annual surveys 100% tax (Taxi &
Limousines, Survey of Mapping)
 Update Business Register
 Allocation of survey data ( use tax revenues, salaries
and expenses)
CHART OF ACCOUNTS
Why does a Bureau of Statistics need one?
BUSINESS WORLD
Chart of Accounts (COA)
BUREAU OF STATISTICS
Chart of Accounts
COLLECTION
Sales
Operating
revenue
EBIT
Gross
Cost of profit Expenses
sales
LINK, BRIDGE, CONCORDANCE
DISSIMINATION
Shipments
Outputs
Inputs
Value
added
Operating
Surplus
GDP
Expected Benefits of a Chart of Accounts
Standardization in business data collection
Higher survey response
Increase in quality of data
Comparison of data from various sources
Increase efficiency in using administrative data
Links to Chart of Accounts
Establishment
CHART
OF
ACCOUNT
Legal entity
Legal entity
GST Data
Monthly tax data
Used to replace survey data for
monthly surveys
Implemented for manufacturing,
services and retail surveys
For RY 2005 used for analytical
comparisons for annual Services
Surveys
Research and Development
Data Integration Project
make a more efficient use of tax data
Development of new quality indicators
(e.g. Rates, coefficients of variation)