Public Accounts committee  I don't want to belabour the offshore compliance directorate, a directorate that is distinct from Lisa's, but that organization has 70 people in it. The $30 million over five years that we have invested, I believe, has given us really effective measures. The government has also made changes to the T1135.

Public Accounts committee  The overall disclosures are up 80%, a fairly significant increase in both numbers and dollars. They're not small-dollar cases. We also broke out the international transactions, the international element. That is up 400%. Again, that's in terms of both number and volume. Just on the international front, in the last seven years roughly $2 billion in additional income has been reported just through that program.

Public Accounts committee  It is, and in fact we've seized the opportunity to promote it. Whenever we have a chance to communicate that message, we try to get the message out. We also point to the January introduction of FINTRAC data and kind of put that message together to encourage people to come forward with VDP, because eligibility for the program ceases once we do begin an audit.

Public Accounts committee  There are at least two ways in which the CRA gets that kind of insight. The first is our offshore tax informant program line. The people who are contacting us through that line are insiders. They are people who have direct access to offshore transactions and non-compliance; they kind of have a front row seat.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, it would be completely inappropriate to comment on a specific taxpayer. I can tell the committee, however, that the agency uses all the information put at its disposal by virtue of its arrangements with other governments, and because of information that is publicly available.

Public Accounts committee  What the CRA is trying to assess is the direct tax assessment, the actual audit result, in the here and now, so the entry that we would post to the taxpayer account. Certainly with businesses it's a little more complex than that, though. They have loss carry-forwards and other pools that are multi-year in nature.

Public Accounts committee  The Canada Revenue Agency deals with boards of directors through its programs for big international companies. One of the very important aspects of our risk management program has to do with providing feedback to the boards of large corporations. When the risk level of a company is determined, especially if it is a high risk, we officially meet with its board of directors or its representatives and explain the situation.

Public Accounts committee  There are some taxpayers who have a financial interest, a legitimate one, in minimizing their tax bill, so they look within the legislation and they have expert advisers to help them, and they adopt a position. That position can be tested with the agency through a rulings process, or they could merely file the return based on that, but they're pushing the envelope.

Public Accounts committee  It starts from the rules and working with the Department of Finance. Even at the outset the Department of Finance will often consult the CRA in terms of the rules. We try to provide early input in terms of ensuring that there's clarity. The agency has put a lot of effort into its electronic service and web services to help taxpayers take advantage of the credits that are available to them.

Public Accounts committee  In terms of training, for the staff that we didn't ask, it was going back and actually documenting that people were taking the training: first, that the training was being offered as it should have been; second, that employees were taking it; and third, based on their actual day-to-day work, whether they absorbed the lessons they needed to absorb.

Public Accounts committee  Right now, the CRA is after the promoters. I am talking about those who convince Canadians to make charitable donations and participate in charity schemes. The number of participants has been reduced by 95%. In court proceedings and criminal investigations, we have been focusing on promoters.

Public Accounts committee  I will start by talking about point 3.18, which deals with the data from the CRA. I think having those data is important in terms of risk assessment. The agency has over 90 national-level arrangements with other governments. It has 20 other less detailed arrangements with other jurisdictions.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Chair, the CRA focus—and I believe it's an interest shared by most taxpayers—is early certainty. We see our income tax rulings and other functions as a kind of early warning area. For areas that are grey, where there's an ambiguous position or a desire for certainty on the part of the taxpayer, there can be a dialogue.

Public Accounts committee  First of all, the effectiveness of the risk assessments we're talking about—not the effectiveness overall of the program, because we have some different numbers that speak to that—in terms of the national risk assessment module, which is a new, more systematic way of grading files and deciding who is the riskiest and where that risk is, we spent a number of years implementing that new, more rigorous approach.

Public Accounts committee  I think the first thing to lead off with is that while we have documented training paths and we have documented training courses, we've figured out that we have to answer three key questions. First, is the training that's supposed to be offered actually offered? Second, are the auditors actually taking the training?