Questions and responses 41st Parliament, 1st session June 2, 2011, to September 13, 2013

With regard to the reduction in planned spending for the Canada Revenue Agency’s Policy, Rulings and Interpretations branch from $353,788,000 to $69,179,000 in 2013-2014: (a) how will these planned reductions be achieved; (b) what specific activities, initiatives, and services will be affected; (c) how many part-time, full-time, and contract jobs will be lost; and (d) what stakeholder outreach and consultation was done on the planned spending reduction?

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency, for every year since 2006, how many charities have been audited and what is the name of each charity?

With respect to advertising for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the years 2003-2013 inclusive: (a) what was the advertising budget, broken down by year; (b) how many different advertising campaigns were created or used, broken down by year; (c) how many different advertisements were produced or used, broken down by year; (d) what was the total cost (design, production, airtime, printing, etc.) for the advertising campaigns in (b); (e) what was the total cost (production, airtime, printing, etc.) for the advertisements in (c); (f) what was the cost to produce the television, radio, print, or online spots, broken down individually by advertisement; (g) what companies produced the advertisements, broken down individually by advertisement; (h) what was the cost of television airtime for the advertisements, broken down individually by advertisement; (i) what television channels were the advertisements aired on; (j) what was the cost of online airtime for the advertisements, broken down individually by advertisement; (k) what online platforms were the advertisements aired on, broken down by free media (i.e. posting to YouTube) and fee media (i.e. online commercials); (l) what was the cost of ad space in newspapers and other print publications, broken down individually by advertisement; and (m) what programs or divisions of CRA were responsible for (i) overseeing/coordinating production of the advertisements, (ii) financing the production of the advertisements, (iii) financing the purchase of airtime both on television and online, and print space in newspapers and other print publications?

With respect to the Canadian Revenue Agency’s (CRA) searchable charity database, and providing a detailed justification for any information that is not supplied: (a) when was the database created; (b) what was the initial cost to create the database; (c) how many staff were initially required to administer the database; (d) have there been any major upgrades to the database since it has been created, and, if so, (i) when, (ii) for what reason, (iii) at what total cost; (e) what is the annual cost to run and administer the searchable database, including, (i) staffing costs, (ii) technology costs, (iii) general administration costs, (iv) any other major costs for the fiscal years 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011; (f) to administer the database in fiscal year 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011, how many (i) staff positions were required, (ii) total employees were required; (g) how many charitable returns were filed with CRA for the fiscal years 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011; (h) what is the aggregate amount of all transactions and all disbursements, or book value in the case of investments and assets, in excess of $5,000 made by the CRA with respect to the functioning and administration of the charitable database, broken down individually by (i) name and address of payer and payee, (ii) purpose and description of the transaction, (iii) specific amount that has been paid or received or that is to be paid or received; (i) for all of the transactions referenced in subquestion (h), what is the breakdown of these transactions according to (i) disbursements for education and training activities, (ii) disbursements for general overhead, (iii) disbursements for administration, (iv) disbursements to employees and contractors including gross salary, stipends, periodic payments, benefits (including pension obligations), vehicles, bonuses, gifts, service credits, lump sum payments, and other forms of remuneration; and (j) what is the description, cost, book value, and price paid for all investments and fixed assets associated with the functioning and administration of the database?

With regard to overseas tax evasion: (a) how much money has the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) identified as being hidden in overseas tax havens by Canadian individuals and corporations; (b) how much money does the CRA estimate as being hidden in overseas tax havens by Canadian individuals and corporations; and (c) how much money does the CRA estimate as having been lost in tax revenue through the use of overseas tax havens by Canadian individuals and corporations?

With regard to the allegations of and investigations into corruption at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): (a) how many employees have been fired or constructively dismissed over allegations of corruption, (i) what was their position or role at the CRA, (ii) how many have left under unfavorable circumstances over allegations of corruption, (iii) how did these allegations come to light at the CRA; (b) under which authority does the CRA conduct investigations into allegations of corruption and with what investigative tools; (c) how many internal investigations were there at the CRA (i) this year, (ii) in the past two decades; (d) does the CRA employ internal auditors whose responsibilities include investigating allegations of corruption, and, if so, (i) how many such Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) internal auditors does the CRA employ, (ii) what are their job descriptions; (e) does the CRA employ external auditors whose responsibilities include investigating allegations of corruption, and, if so, (i) how many such FTE external auditors does the CRA employ, (ii) what are their job descriptions; (f) what was the budget for those internal and external auditors identified in (d) and (e) in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011; (g) what is the 10-year trend for the budgeting and FTE staffing of internal and external auditors at the CRA; (h) has the CRA’s internal capacity to investigate increased or decreased and by how much; (i) are there different departments within the CRA handling internal investigations into allegations of corruption; (j) what are the different processes involved in an investigation into allegations of corruption at the CRA, (i) at what time in the investigative process is the RCMP involved, (ii) how many times has the RCMP been involved in investigative processes at the CRA, (iii) how many of these instances have resulted in further investigation; (k) can the RCMP investigate allegations of corruption without CRA consent and, if so, how many times has it happened in the past; (l) what information concerning allegations of corruption is shared by the RCMP and the CRA, (i) can the CRA ask the RCMP for updates on ongoing investigations, (ii) does the RCMP provide progress reports or recommendations to the CRA at the end or during investigations, (iii) how long is the average duration of investigations, (iv) what is the level of communication between the CRA and the RCMP during investigations, (v) is the government planning on improving the process, (vi) have there been recent steps to improve these relations; (m) who at the CRA has the authority to ask (i) for internal investigations, (ii) for external investigations; (n) following investigations into allegations of corruption by the CRA, how many charges have been laid, (i) how many charges have led to convictions, (ii) what are the most common charges, (iii) what departments are more vulnerable to allegations of corruption; (o) what are the different evidence-gathering impediments when investigating these allegations, (i) is the Canada Evidence Act ever used by CRA investigators or auditors, (ii) has the CRA ever asked the Department of Justice to reform the Canada Evidence Act; (p) what is the level of information-sharing between the CRA and different bodies such as, but not limited to, (i) federal or provincial departments, (ii) federal or provincial agencies, (iii) the provincial police and municipal police; (q) how does the CRA plan to eliminate corruption at the CRA; (r) have there been any studies or task forces mandated to look at how best to eliminate corruption at the CRA; (s) what are the mechanisms recently put in place to eliminate or take into account corruption practices; (t) what will be the effect of cuts to expenditures at the CRA on the CRA auditor or internal investigative capacity; and (u) of the known cases of corruption, is corporate tax fraud or individual tax fraud more prevalent and, consequently, what departments are most scrutinized by internal investigators?

With regard to the Shawinigan Tax Centre: (a) is there a study or report on the economic impacts of closing or maintaining the Centre and, if so, what are these impacts; (b) is there a study or report on the social impacts of closing or maintaining the Centre and, if so, what are these impacts; (c) what are the results of the most recent performance appraisal of the Centre; (d) how does the performance of the Shawinigan Tax Centre compare with that of other Centres across the country; (e) how much would the government save by closing the Centre; and (f) if the government is currently re-evaluating the need for the Centre, when will a final decision be made?

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency: (a) what are the titles of the employees responsible for processing and auditing the public information returns of registered charities, broken down by average salary; (b) how many registered charities submitted public information returns from 2009 until now, broken down by year; (c) how many employees have been assigned to processing and auditing the public information returns of charitable organizations from 2009 until now, broken down by (i) year, (ii) position; (d) what is the average cost to process and audit the public information return of a registered charity; (e) how much did it cost to design and implement the Agency’s website that contains the public information returns of registered charities and includes a search function; and (f) what is the annual cost to maintain the Agency’s website that contains the public information returns of registered charities?

With regard to the allegations of and investigations into corruption at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): (a) how many employees have been fired or constructively dismissed over allegations of corruption, (i) what was their position or role at the CRA, (ii) how many have left under unfavorable circumstances over allegations of corruption, (iii) how did these allegations come to light at the CRA, (iv) were the CRA employees given the specific cause for their dismissal, (v) what are the different reasons for their dismissal; (b) under which authority does the CRA conduct investigations into allegations of corruption and with what investigative tools; (c) how many internal investigations were there at the CRA (i) this year, (ii) in the past two decades; (d) does the CRA employ internal auditors whose responsibilities include investigating allegations of corruption, and, if so, (i) how many such Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) internal auditors does the CRA employ, (ii) what are their job descriptions; (e) does the CRA employ external auditors whose responsibilities include investigating allegations of corruption, and, if so, (i) how many such FTE external auditors does the CRA employ, (ii) what are their job descriptions; (f) what was the budget for those internal and external auditors identified in (d) and (e) in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011; (g) what is the 10-year trend for the budgeting and FTE staffing of internal and external auditors at the CRA; (h) has the CRA’s internal capacity to investigate increased or decreased and, if so, by how much; (i) are there different departments within the CRA handling internal investigations into allegations of corruption; (j) what are the different processes involved in an investigation into allegations of corruption at the CRA, (i) at what time in the investigative process is the RCMP involved, (ii) how many times has the RCMP been involved in investigative processes at the CRA, (iii) how many of these instances have resulted in further investigation; (k) can the RCMP investigate allegations of corruption without CRA consent and, if so, how many times has it happened in the past; (l) what information concerning allegations of corruption is shared by the RCMP and the CRA, (i) can the CRA ask the RCMP for updates on ongoing investigations, (ii) does the RCMP provide progress reports or recommendations to the CRA at the end or during investigations, (iii) how long is the average duration of investigations, (iv) what is the level of communication between the CRA and the RCMP during investigations, (v) is the government planning on improving the process, (vi) have there been recent steps to improve these relations; (m) who at the CRA has the authority to ask (i) for internal investigations, (ii) for external investigations; (n) following investigations into allegations of corruption by the CRA, how many charges have been laid, (i) how many charges have led to convictions, (ii) what are the most common charges, (iii) what departments are more vulnerable to allegations of corruption; (o) what are the different evidence-gathering impediments when investigating these allegations, (i) is the Canada Evidence Act ever used by CRA investigators or auditors, (ii) has the CRA ever asked the Department of Justice to reform the Canada Evidence Act; (p) what is the level of information-sharing between the CRA and different bodies such as, but not limited to, (i) federal or provincial departments, (ii) federal or provincial agencies, (iii) the provincial police and municipal police; (q) how does the CRA plan to eliminate corruption at the CRA; (r) have there been any studies or task forces mandated to look at how best to eliminate corruption at the CRA; (s) what are the mechanisms recently put in place to eliminate or take into account corruption practices; (t) what will be the effect of cuts to expenditures at the CRA on the CRA auditor or internal investigative capacity; (u) of the known cases of corruption, is corporate tax fraud or individual tax fraud more prevalent and, consequently, what departments are most scrutinized by internal investigators; and (v) what are the CRA internal investigation guidelines?

With respect to staffing at the Canada Revenue Agency, what is the number of personnel, sorted by job title and broken down by year, working on aggressive international tax planning for the years 2003-2013 inclusive?

With respect to tax returns filed with the Canada Revenue Agency, for each tax year between 2006 and 2011: (a) what is the total number of tax returns filed, broken down by tax year, by (i) individuals, (ii) corporations; (b) for the answer to part (a)(i) and (a)(ii), what is the total number of tax returns filed by (i) individuals who have been reassessed, broken down by tax year, (ii) corporations that have been reassessed, broken down by tax year; (c) for the answer to part (b)(i), of the total number of tax returns filed by individuals who have been reassessed, (i) what is the total number of individuals who received a refund, broken down by tax year, (ii) what is the total number of individuals who had a change to their tax payable and were required to repay an amount or had a balance due, broken down by tax year; (d) for the answer to part (b)(ii), of the total number of tax returns filed by corporations that were reassessed, (i) what is the total number of corporations that received a refund, broken down by tax year, (ii) what is the total number of corporations that had a change to their tax payable and were required to repay an amount or had a balance due, broken down by tax year; (e) for the answer to part (c)(i), broken down by tax year, (i) what is the total monetary amount refunded to individuals, (ii) was interest applied on the amounts refunded, (iii) what was the total monetary amount of interest refunded, (iv) what was the interest rate applied to the refunds; (f) for the answer to part (d)(i), broken down by tax year, (i) what is the total monetary amount refunded to corporations, (ii) was interest applied on the amounts refunded, (iii) what was the total monetary amount of interest refunded, (iv) what was the interest rate applied to the refunds; (g) for the answer to part (c)(ii), broken down by tax year, (i) what is the total monetary amount of tax payable repaid by individuals due to a reassessment, (ii) was interest applied to the balance due, (iii) what was the total monetary amount of interest collected from the repayments, (iv) what was the interest rate applied to the balance due; (h) for the answer to part (d)(ii), broken down by tax year, (i) what is the total monetary amount of tax payable repaid by corporations due to a reassessment, (ii) was interest applied to the balance due, (iii) what was the total monetary amount of interest collected from the repayments, (iv) what was the interest rate applied to the balance due; (i) for the answer to part (c)(i) and (d)(i), when was the notice of the reassessment of tax returns, which resulted in a new amount refunded, sent to (i) individuals, broken down by tax year and by month, (ii) corporations, broken down by tax year and by month; and (j) for the answer to part (c)(ii) and (d)(ii), when was the notice of the reassessment of tax returns, which resulted in a new amount due of taxes payable, sent to (i) individuals, broken down by tax year and by month, (ii) corporations, broken down by tax year and by month?

With regard to the Enforcement and Disclosures Directorate of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), for the years 2003 to 2013, inclusive, by year: (a) what is the budget of the Directorate; (b) how many people work at the Directorate; and (c) what training does CRA staff receive in the prosecution of cases against overseas tax evaders?

With respect to staffing cuts at Canada Revenue Agency (CRA): (a) how many positions at CRA have been cut as part of the government’s plan to eliminate 19,200 jobs from the federal public service as of February 1, 2013, broken down by the (i) number of actual positions cut, (ii) number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions cut, (iii) divisions where these cuts have been made, including the total number of positions and FTEs cut from each division, (iv) locations of these cuts across the country; (b) are 3,008 FTE positions still the estimated number of cuts to be made at CRA as part of the plan mentioned in (a); (c) in which divisions are the 3,008 FTE positions, or revised target number, anticipated to take place; (d) are any auditors in the Aggressive International Tax Planning (AITP) division to be cut as part of the estimate in (b); (e) how many auditor positions at CRA have been cut as of February 1, 2013; (f) how many auditor positions have been cut from the AITP division as of February 1, 2013; (g) how many auditors were working in AITP before cutbacks, if any, took place; (h) how many auditors are currently working in AITP; and (i) how many auditors were working in AITP, broken down by fiscal year, for each of the past five years, including the current fiscal year?

With regard to overseas tax evasion for the period from February 6, 2006 to September 30, 2012: (a) how many Canadians have been identified as having undeclared overseas bank accounts; (b) how many accounts have been identified; (c) how many identified Canadians have availed themselves of the Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA); (d) how many identified Canadian accounts have settled with the CRA; (e) how much money has the CRA assessed as a result of investigating these secret overseas bank accounts (i) in unpaid taxes, (ii) in interest, (iii) in fines, (iv) in penalties; (f) how much of the money in (e) has been collected; (g) how many of the cases are under appeal; (h) how many cases remain open; (i) how many more cases does the CRA anticipate will be opened; (j) how many cases have been closed (i.e. the full amount of taxes, interest, fines and penalties has been collected); (k) how much money in (j) has been collected (i) in unpaid taxes, (ii) in interest, (iii) in fines, (iv) in penalties; (l) how many account holders in the cases have made partial payment; (m) of the partial payments made, (i) what was the largest amount, (ii) what was the smallest amount, (iii) what was the average amount; (n) how much does the CRA anticipate it has yet to collect (i) in taxes, (ii) in interest, (iii) in fines, (iv) in penalties; (o) of the amounts of money contained in overseas accounts declared or discovered by CRA (i) what was the largest amount, (ii) what was the smallest amount, (iii) what was the average amount; (p) how many of the identified Canadians with overseas bank accounts (i) have had their account(s) audited, (ii) have had their account(s) reassessed, (iii) have been the subject of a compliance action; (q) how many of the identified Canadians with overseas bank accounts (i) have not had their account(s) audited, (ii) have not had their account(s) reassessed, (iii) have not been the subject of a compliance action; (r) how many tax evasion charges were laid; (s) has the government made any changes to the VDP in the past 24 months; (t) how many Canadians have been convicted of tax evasion; and (u) how many Canadians have been convicted of tax evasion related to money and other assets held overseas?

With regard to the news release dated May 8, 2013, in which the Minister of National Revenue announced “new measures” to fight overseas tax evasion including “An additional $15 million in reallocated CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) funds that will be used to bring in new audit and compliance resources dedicated exclusively to international compliance issues and revenue collection identified as a result of measures outlined in Economic Action Plan 2013”: (a) what, specifically, are these “new audit and compliance resources”; (b) what is each projected to cost; and (c) from where, within the CRA, will the $15 million be “reallocated”?

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) response to the provisions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA): (a) according to the government’s analysis, do the FATCA provisions comply with the provisions of the Convention Between Canada and the United States of America With Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital and its amending Protocol (2007); (b) how many citizens from the United States of America will be affected by FATCA, (ii) are there specific Canadian exemptions to FATCA; (c) has Canada negotiated with United States Treasury officials or the IRS following the announcement of FATCA provisions, (i) at what time was the government made aware of these provisions, (ii) how long did it take Canada to respond to the initial creation of FATCA and its implementation, (iii) are there ongoing negotiations in this regard; (d) will Canada inform dual citizens about FATCA and, if so, (i) how, (ii) at what time, (iii) what department or agencies will be responsible; (e) has the government conducted any studies or mandated a task force to look into how much FATCA will cost Canadians and, if so, what are the cost implications resulting from the additional regulations and demands, (i) for the government, (ii) for the CRA, (iii) for Canadian banks, (iv) who will absorb these costs, (v) are there other types of non-financial costs such as efficiency or fairness reductions; (f) which Canadian civil liberties associations or other types of association has the government met with to discuss the privacy implications of FATCA and what actions will the government undertake to protect the fundamental civil liberties of all Canadians in this regard; (g) according to the government’s analysis, do the FATCA provisions comply with the provisions of the Privacy Act or the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and if so, which department undertook this assesment; (h) in order to discuss the implications of FATCA, who within the government has met with (i) Canadian banks, (ii) other financial institutions, (iii) insurance companies; (i) how many complaints has the CRA received regarding FATCA, (i) what are the main complaints, (ii) what has the CRA done concerning these complaints, (iii) what department at the CRA is in charge of dealing with complaints of this nature, (iv) will the CRA cut Full-Time Equivalents from that department or reduce its funding, (v) has the office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman looked into the matter; (j) has Canada ever studied the development or implementation of a process similar to FATCA to improve tax compliance involving foreign financial assets and offshore accounts; (k) who will be most affected by FATCA and have concerns been raised by entities such as, but not limited to, (i) interests groups, (ii) stakeholder groups, (iii) hedge funds; and (l) will FATCA affect different saving vehicles such as, but not limited to, (i) Registered Retirement Savings Plans, (ii) Registered Education Savings Plans, (iii) Registered Disability Savings Plans, (iv) Tax-Free Savings Accounts?

With regard to the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) responses to the provisions of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regarding the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR): (a) according to the government’s analysis, do the IRS provisions comply with the provisions of the Convention Between Canada and the United States of America With Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital and its amending Protocol (2007); (b) are there Canadian exemptions to FBAR; (c) has Canada negotiated the FBAR provisions with United States Treasury Officials or the IRS, (i) at what time was the government made aware of these provisions, (ii) how long did it take for Canada to respond to the changes made by the IRS and the United States Treasury; (d) how will the government ensure that the CRA does not act on behalf of the IRS to collect revenues and penalties; (e) has Canada informed dual citizens about their tax obligations resulting from FBAR; (f) what was the number of exchanges of information between Canada and the United States of America this year and during the past ten years regarding FBAR, (i) has the CRA set internal deadlines to be able to respond to exchange of information requests in a timely manner, (ii) will Canada work to improve bilateral cooperation on this issue, (iii) has there been an increase of exchange of information requests at the CRA due to FBAR; (g) will the government lose revenue as a result of the implementation of FBAR; (h) what are the cost implications emanating from FBAR (i) for the government, (ii) for the CRA, (iii) for Canadian banks, (iv) who will absorb these costs, (v) are there other types of non-financial costs such as efficiency or fairness reductions; (i) how many complaints has the CRA received regarding FBAR or related vexatious inquiries by the IRS, (i) what are the main complaints, (ii) what has the CRA done concerning these complaints, (iii) what department at the CRA is in charge of dealing with complaints of this nature, (iv) will the CRA cut Full-Time Equivalents from that department or reduce its funding, (v) has the office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman looked into the matter; (j) will FBAR prevent double taxation of pre-migration gain; (k) has there been an increase in arbitration cases due to active procedures by the IRS, (i) what departments are most affected, (ii) has the CRA cut Full-Time Equivalents from each of these affected departments or reduced their funding; (l) will FBAR affect different saving vehicles such as, but not limited to, (i) Registered Retirement Savings Plans, (ii) Registered Education Savings Plans, (iii) Registered Disability Savings Plans, (iv) Tax-Free Savings Accounts; and (m) how many Canadian-American dual citizens are affected by FBAR and does Canada have contact information for the dual citizens affected by FBAR?