Ottawa, Ontario, June 10, 2013… The Honourable Gail
Shea, Minister of National Revenue and Minister for the Atlantic Canada
Opportunities Agency, announced today that the Canada Revenue Agency
(CRA) has received information from international allies that relates to
persons resident in Canada with assets offshore.
“Our Government takes the abuse of Canada’s tax laws seriously. We
have reached out to key international partners and have been working to
obtain this data in accordance with our tax treaties,” said Minister
Shea. “We are now in possession of information on Canadians with
offshore assets and we will continue to work with our partners to ensure
all Canadians pay their fair share of taxes.”
Canada’s close relationship with our tax treaty partners exemplifies
how countries can use exchange of information to help uncover offshore
assets of Canadians. The data that the CRA has obtained is voluminous
and requires substantial review which is currently underway. Given the
magnitude and complexity of the data, the CRA will perform a thorough
analysis and take actions as appropriate.
On May 9, Tax Commissioners from Australia, the United Kingdom, and
the United States announced that they had obtained data exposing cases
of potential tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, and Minister Shea
secured a commitment that information relevant to Canada stemming from
this data would be shared.
“Today, we are seeing the significant benefits of Canada’s ongoing
and close collaboration with our international partners to combat the
use of offshore tax havens,” said Minister Shea. “Our network of
information-sharing agreements, as well as the strong enforcement
measures we are implementing, is good news for hard-working, law-abiding
Canadians who pay their fair share and bad news for tax evaders in this
country.”
The Harper Government is taking strong action to tackle international
tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. Key enforcement measures
proposed in Economic Action Plan 2013 include: the new Stop
International Tax Evasion Program, the mandatory reporting of
international electronic funds transfers over $10,000 to the CRA, new
reporting requirements for Canadian taxpayers with foreign income or
properties, and streamlining the judicial process that authorizes the
CRA to obtain information from third parties such as banks. Minister
Shea also recently announced a $30 million investment to target
international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.
As a result of the Harper Government’s efforts to address
international tax evasion, the use of CRA’s Voluntary Disclosures
Program has seen significant increases and the CRA’s in-depth
understanding of international tax evasion and avoidance continues to
grow.
Failure to report income from domestic or foreign sources is illegal,
and Canadians should know that the CRA actively pursues cases of
non-compliance. Tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance can lead to
significant taxes, interest, and penalties. Tax evasion can also lead to
fines and/or jail time.
Canadians should come forward if they have information on suspected
cases of tax evasion or avoidance through our Informant Leads Program,
either by phone at 1-866-809-6841 or over the Internet at www.cra.gc.ca/leads.
Canadians should also take this opportunity, if necessary, to correct
their own tax affairs through the use of the Voluntary Disclosure
Program (http://www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures).
Canada Revenue Agency
This a a reproduction copy of an official work that is published by the Government of Canada and that the reproduction has not been produced in affiliation with, or with the endorsement of the Government of Canada.
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