Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Monsieur Labelle, for your summation.
I'm going to give a fairly lengthy answer. You took some time to lay down the parameters of your motion.
The reality is that we do have a very good record. The Government of Canada has a very good record of combatting international tax evasion. Let's be very clear that we know that record. Since 2006 we've audited over 8,600 international tax cases and identified $5.6 billion in additional taxes that are being collected.
Your numbers, with respect, are incorrect. I'm going to give you the correct numbers here today. When I'm finished with all the numbers and the actions we've taken as government, you'll be satisfied that actually this file has been handled extremely well.
To begin with, CRA became aware of the account holders of the HSBC accounts long before the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists did. You referenced Minister Blackburn travelling to France in 2010. He personally collected this list from France's tax collection authority and since that time strong actions have been taken.
Contrary to the numbers in the media reports, the total number of files is 1,349 received from France related to HSBC. Of the 1,349 files received, 154 were duplicates and 801 were accounts that contained zero dollars. I'm giving you as much information as we have. The remaining 394 were deemed to be high-risk, high-dollar files. Of those files, the relevant accounts that have been reviewed have resulted so far in 200 audits that are either completed or currently under way. As a result of these audits, $21 million in federal taxes and penalties have been reassessed to date, and the compliance action obviously continues.
On top of that, CRA has receives 264 voluntary disclosures related to Canadians with HSBC accounts worldwide. The unreported income identified through these HSBC disclosures for this period totals nearly $123 million. To be clear, disclosures are only accepted by CRA if the disclosures are voluntary, meaning that the taxpayer cannot submit a disclosure if he or she becomes aware that CRA has audited them. They can't come in after the fact; they have to be proactive on their own part.
We also need to recognize that CRA was commended by the Auditor General for handling a separate list of Canadian taxpayers with offshore accounts, known as the Liechtenstein list, in his fall 2013 report on offshore banking.
Aside from the HSBC accounts, the government has implemented a number of tools over the past years aimed at cracking down on international tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. As a result, capacity to combat international tax evasions is stronger than it's ever been.
We included $30 million in 2013 for CRA to specifically target international tax evasion. We created an offshore compliance division that includes 70 full-time specialized auditors; the requirement for financial intermediaries, including banks, to report electronic transfers over $10,000; an offshore tax informant program, which allows CRA to pay individuals for information collected that results in federal tax being collected.
We strengthened the foreign income verification, or the T1135, which introduced new reporting requirements—