Statistics Canada operates an automated receipt processing system that helps respondents to the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) submit their shopping receipts digitally instead of manually writing down daily expenses. The system uses optical character recognition (OCR) technology combined with machine learning algorithms to automatically extract and classify information from scanned receipts, including item descriptions, prices, and store information.
This system is currently in production and is used by Government of Canada employees to process receipts submitted by survey respondents. The system does not involve the collection of personal information about individuals; instead, it focuses on extracting transactional data from receipts to support household spending analysis.
Survey participants can voluntarily choose to submit their paper receipts as an alternative to manually recording their expenses. The automated processing streamlines data entry while maintaining the accuracy and quality of the household spending data that Statistics Canada collects.
