Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
And thank you to our witnesses for being with us today.
Ms. Ricard, in your opening statement, you stated:
The key to the CRA's domestic and international strategy to prevent aggressive tax planning and tax evasion, in addition to active enforcement, is to make it easy for taxpayers to comply with their tax obligations, while ensuring that the consequences of avoiding or evading tax are serious.
You also stated, “We expect taxpayers to operate in good faith”, and that if they enter into financial transactions for the express purpose of avoiding or evading taxes you take action. In another statement you talked about the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion, and that tax avoidance is about contravening “the object and spirit of Canada's tax laws”. I'm assuming “evasion” would be that you actually contravene the letter of the law.
Once it has been determined that the letter of the law has been contravened and an investigation needs to take place, what triggers that? Then I want to ask some questions about tax evasion convictions.