Finance committee  With the $100 million.

Finance committee  That $9-million decrease has to do with the Children's Special Allowances Act. This is a legislated item. Each year we estimate how much of these benefit payments will have to go out. Basically, this is an adjustment to this benefit payment. Based on the number of children out there who are in the care of foster parents, we estimate the amount of benefits that will need to be paid out.

Finance committee  This amount was given to us for different reasons. One was to do a little bit of what we already do, for example, to ensure that we tackle non-compliance, non-filers, and excessive contributions to RRSPs. Basically, we receive funding to do a little bit more of what we've done with regard to non-filer activities, to make sure we identify the folks who are not filing.

Finance committee  We have received funding for three years. The $29-million amount is for 2015-2016. That money was allocated to the agency in 2014-2015. It was not included in the main estimates because it was announced in the budget and accepted through this year's supplementary estimates. That is why there is a difference between last year's amount and this year's amount.

Finance committee  Yes, you did.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee to present and to answer any questions that you may have on the Canada Revenue Agency's 2015-16 main estimates. Mr. Chair, The Canada Revenue Agency is responsible for the administration of federal and certain provincial and territorial tax programs, as well as the delivery of a number of benefit payment programs.

Finance committee  If the financial situation changes, we will continue to proceed.

Finance committee  No, the debt is never really completely written off.

Finance committee  They actually were, last December. The results of the investigations were published.

Finance committee  We've looked at the observations. We made some modifications concerning our processes and made sure we had good communication. It was basically human error, not following proper processes, that led to the cheque being released. We obviously took a look to make sure that we have enough rigour in our processes to ensure that these things would not happen again.

Finance committee  If you take a look at our overall receivables portfolio—what we could work on, the $33 billion that I was referring to—15% of our accounts are over five years. The target that we set for ourselves in the agency is that we want to make sure we manage the portfolio such that there is never more than 18% of our receivables that are over five years.

Finance committee  I don't have the exact amount that would be acceptable as a percentage. We have very clear directives in the government as to what we can write off.

Finance committee  When we proceed with the write-off of certain of these accounts, the accounts are not necessarily washed away. If by any chance there is new information that leads us to believe we're in a position to collect from these accounts that have been written off, we will take those actions.

Finance committee  I think the $29 billion you're referencing is the receivables that we actually have access to. This number is approximately $33 billion right now.

Finance committee  It probably includes the amounts in appeals right now.