Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. I should indicate that I'm happy to stay for the duration of the meeting. If I may, I will say at the outset, on behalf of all CRA employees, that all our prayers and thoughts are with the people of Fort McMurray and the first responders there. With me

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I'm just looking here at the findings of Ms. Brooks. I think she actually spoke on this point. She said: The review found that each of the audit files appears to have been carefully completed by diligent staff and that the practices used in pursuin

Finance committee  I won't speak about any particular case, but in general all tax administrations in their compliance work litigate, and litigation can end in court, or litigation can end in a settlement. In our case, the numbers, broadly speaking, are about 5,000 cases. Of that over 2,200 would

Finance committee  It is a part of the calculation, but first is what is the appropriate treatment under the law, what is in the public interest, and what is in the interest of the crown. So it's not a simple calculus. If you go to court, obviously, you have an extended process, you have additiona

Finance committee  Mr. Gallivan.

Finance committee  I'm very pleased to be able to hopefully provide some illumination on the record here. I've spoken to three previous CRA commissioners, and as far back as I can tell the Canada Revenue Agency works with tax intermediaries. For over 70% of the interactions between Canadians, whe

Finance committee  No, that is not correct. If we have someone under internal investigation and we find a criminal offence, we will suspend the employee or we will terminate the employee. Sadly, I have been called upon to do that during my tenure. If it's a criminal matter, we will refer it to th

Finance committee  I'll ask Diane Lorenzato to explain the provisions.

Finance committee  I believe it's over 92%, but, yes, we have one of the highest voluntary compliance rates in the world. It's an important observation you make, sir. It's one of the most important measures of a tax system that is accepted by Canadians as fair and just.

Finance committee  You'll recall, sir, that I spoke about the instances of litigation cases. We have about 5,000. We have settlements in 3,000 of those cases, and 2,200 go to court. Let me say for the record that we do not characterize the KPMG file as an amnesty. That is a term that has been app

Finance committee  That is a very interesting question. I have asked myself whether going back in time.... If we had had all the tools and information sources available to us today, we may well have been more successful. That is probably a question I should invite Mr. Gallivan to address.

Finance committee  Without taking the committee's precious time, I would like to refer to the entirety of my remarks at the outset. We have sources of information we have never had before, perhaps the most critical being that any international electronic fund transfer of $10,000 or more is now know

Finance committee  Well, some of these tools don't go back five years. Some of them go back three years; some go back one year. Most important, now we have the financial resources to put the effort into it.

Finance committee  I am prevented by law from doing so, sir.

Finance committee  Canada Revenue Agency uncovered this scheme through our actions. Our characterization of the scheme is in the public record and that, again, could easily be forwarded to the committee.