Finance committee  I'd like to be able to say that as a public servant I'd never have any dealings with Crédit Suisse or those types of institutions, so I personally cannot comment about the services they provide. I'm not aware of them.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, indeed we do work extensively with law enforcement agencies and FINTRAC. FINTRAC has a system in place whereby they would send information to the CRA in cases they've noted in which there is possible tax evasion. We also work closely with our collea

Finance committee  As the tax administrator, I would say it is very difficult for us to answer a question like that. My colleagues in FINTRAC and the RCMP would perhaps be in a better position to answer.

Finance committee  Absolutely. In recent years, we have been increasingly relying on that tool to obtain information from financial institutions. I would say that those institutions have been of great help to us until now by giving us the requested information, and that information has allowed us t

Finance committee  There is a difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance. Tax avoidance occurs when the provisions of the law are used, but perhaps in an unintended way. That is why, in 1988, the Department of Finance gave us the authority, through the anti-avoidance rule, to investigate tran

Finance committee  Yes, good faith as well as documentary evidence and transactions. With tax evasion, there is a clear and unequivocal intent to commit fraud, i.e., actions are taken to ensure that expected results are achieved.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The unnamed persons requirement is a tool that is in the Income Tax Act to help obtain information, whether from individuals or third parties. We can recover money from taxpayers who might have funds or information outside of Canada. The classic example wo

Finance committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, when we receive a file, we assess the evidence and try to obtain the best possible proof. At one point, we consult with our colleagues at the Department of Justice to ensure that we have the evidence needed to support our case and engage criminal proceeding

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is a very good question because it implies a number of—

Finance committee  That is an issue that pits civil law against criminal law, in that tax assessments are based on the balance of evidence. If the government wishes to engage criminal proceedings, it must prove the case beyond any reasonable doubt.

Finance committee  The voluntary disclosure program originated in 1973. It has existed in that form for a long time. We have made changes over the years to the program. As recently as this past year, we looked to make sure that our program continued to meet its objectives. As Madame Ricard pointe

Finance committee  The voluntary disclosure program was reviewed this year, as I pointed out, and we feel that it's a very successful program. When someone comes to the CRA, they come on a no name basis, but they have to provide all the information needed. Once we agree to the voluntary disclosure,

Finance committee  I was going to attempt to answer the first part of your question, Mr. Chair. If I understand the question correctly, it seemed to infer that we were farming out to the outside public the audit workload that the CRA would undertake. To my knowledge, we have never farmed out audit

International Trade committee  I will be brief. I was not here on November 3, and I cannot really answer for Mr. Castonguay. However, I believe that Mr. Castonguay meant that not only must Panama sign 12 tax information exchange agreements, it must also meet the criteria set out by the OECD, which were approv

International Trade committee  That's correct, yes.