International Trade committee  Absolutely not. This is the way CRA does business.

International Trade committee  I'll just add one point, and that is if the taxpayer has gone to the Tax Court then certainly we have collection restrictions in place so that the taxpayer will not be required to pay the amount while the amount is under appeal.

International Trade committee  Could you say that last part again?

International Trade committee  Absolutely. As I said in my earlier comments, when an amount is assessed against anyone, this would include an officer or director. They have a process whereby they can go through to object or respond accordingly. Everybody always has an opportunity to express that they haven't committed what is alleged to have happened: it would be the same in this case.

International Trade committee  Under the normal general appeal provisions it would be there as well. That covers everything any time the assessment is made.

International Trade committee  I know you asked the question the other day, and I know my colleagues are consulting with members of the agency to give you a more comprehensive response. So I apologize if my comments are brief today, but that's certainly what we intend to do.

International Trade committee  We'll have this for you prior to next Thursday's meeting.

International Trade committee  I would expect it may actually even take longer.

International Trade committee  Basically any time the minister raises an assessment for any amount of money under all of the other statutes the Minister of National Revenue will consider any objection that is filed by a taxpayer. Of course, in due course they will come to a conclusion. They will evaluate the facts of the case and then respond.

International Trade committee  Assuming they didn't know they had to pay the charge and an assessment was raised on them, they would have 90 days from the date of the notice of assessment to file an objection with the minister. Subsequent to that, the minister of course will consider whether the assessment will be confirmed or not.

International Trade committee  I believe within 90 days the minister is supposed to reply.

International Trade committee  Arbitrarily, but the appeals branch of the Canada Revenue Agency is really an independent branch and they will consider the facts independently of what any auditor did to assess the amount in the first place.

International Trade committee  If the minister confirms the assessment then after that time period the company can then proceed to the Tax Court of Canada, and then of course the court system will take over at that point.

International Trade committee  I would say it's quite some time. To be honest, before a hearing gets made I would suggest it's several months, if not more than that. Unfortunately, that's not within CRA's control. The agenda is set by the Tax Court.