Finance committee  Well, I don't think one could say it has taken so long. The case was reported a couple of weeks ago. The minister has been well aware of the situation. The minister responded--

Finance committee  Well, there are a series of rules in the act to govern when taxpayers can appeal, either within the CRA or--

Finance committee  Thank you for that question. As you may know, the OECD and the G-20 have strongly supported the introduction and use of tax information exchange agreements to ensure that countries can be informed about income that their residents and citizens may have in other jurisdictions. To that end, and even before the attention of the G-20 on the issue, the Government of Canada was proactive and in 2007 introduced a policy that provided incentives for countries to enter into tax information exchange agreements with Canada, as well as disincentives for refusing to do so after having been invited to do so, and introduced as a policy, in addition to the tax information exchange agreements that are particular to information exchange, that all of Canada's new tax treaties and renegotiations of existing tax treaties from that point hence would be required to include the OECD standard language on the exchange of tax information.

Finance committee  Well, this measure is strictly a tax measure. What you're referring to is something that would be dealt with under the PBSA, the Pension Benefits Standards Act, and we haven't tried to wade into that with this particular measure. As you do know, there is a pension consultation process that's under way right now.

Finance committee  Interest that you receive is taxable in the same way as if you had received interest from any other source. Interest that you pay depends on whether you have laid out funds for the purpose of earning income or not, and paying a shortfall in your income taxes and incurring interest expense on that is not considered money borrowed for the purposes of earning income.

Finance committee  That is correct, and it's consistent with the basic principles that money borrowed for the purposes of earning income is deductible. Interest on money borrowed for the purpose of earning income is deductible and other types of interest are not. For example, if you had an individual who earned interest from a deposit in a deposit-taking institution and at the same time paid interest on, say, a car loan for a personal car, the interest on the car loan would not be deductible, but the interest on the moneys placed with the deposit-taking institution would be taxable.

Finance committee  Well, in this case the upshot of this measure deals not so much with corporations that don't pay tax to the CRA. They will pay interest on their underpaid taxes at the treasury bill rate plus 4%, as would any individual. This measure deals with overpayments of tax, effectively leaving moneys on deposit with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Finance committee  Well, before getting into that, there's some history behind this that I think would inform the committee. The Auditor General had taken a look at a situation where it was—

Finance committee  Well, I don't know if she does or not, but the issue was large corporations having money on deposit with the Canada Revenue Agency and obtaining interest on that accruing that the government has to pay at the treasury bill rate plus 2%. That means that for those moneys the Government of Canada would be paying more—

Finance committee  Within the different types of taxes that apply, the tax law does apply a concept known as contra interest. So if you overpay and underpay, the interest charges and overages can be offset. They're offset on an even basis, so there's no differential there. You're probably right that most corporations don't plan on leaving money on the table with the Canada Revenue Agency.

Finance committee  I just have one piece of information for Mr. McKay. I'm advised by one of our helpful people behind me that last year the T1 return was available from the CRA on December 22. So if you want something for your Christmas stocking this year, there you go.

Finance committee  There's a similar measure in respect of forced destruction of livestock due to disease, for example, but not so much market elements. These are natural disaster types of measures. As I say, this one in particular used to be in place for drought. It had been in place for drought for a number of years and it was recently extended to apply to flood situations.

Finance committee  Is this for the new home purchase tax credit?

Finance committee  Right. The base of that tax credit is not applied to professional fees or permits, or any other kinds of fees that you might have. If you have bought your first home, you get a tax credit of $750.

Finance committee  That's correct.