As you know, the Canada Revenue Agency administers and enforces the Income Tax Act. They have a daunting task, especially when taxpayers do not fulfill obligations imposed on them under the Income Tax Act, particularly with respect to assets that they own offshore that may produce income that's taxable in Canada, because they are Canadian residents so all their worldwide income is taxable in Canada, sometimes with credit and sometimes not. But in any event, they have to report all of that income.
That form, T1135, which is called the foreign income verification statement, is an important part of that effort in terms of enforcement and tracking assets and income.
In Bill C-4 it has been proposed to extend the audit period, essentially, the period that the Canada Revenue Agency has to look at the taxpayer's affairs for a particular year. If the taxpayer hasn't reported income from a specified foreign property in their return for the year, and hasn't filed that form T1135, or hasn't filed it with all the required information on it, that then extends the audit period effectively for three years from the date on which the form was filed or was filed properly. That's an important enforcement tool for the CRA to have in its tool box in order to track down foreign income that should be reported on Canadian tax returns.