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Government of Canada Works with International Partners to Crack Down on Offshore Tax Evasion


Canada Revenue Agency

The vast majority of Canadians pay their fair share of taxes, but some wealthy Canadians buy their way out of paying what they owe. This has to change in order to ensure a tax system that is more responsive and fair for all Canadians.

The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue, today highlighted Canada's participation in the Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC) network. During the announcement, the Minister emphasized the necessity of sharing data between Canada's international partners, in order to identify and curb tax schemes and to bring those who choose to participate in such tactics to justice.

As a founding member of the JITSIC - a network of more than 30 tax administrations - Canada works closely with its counterparts to coordinate tax compliance activities across the spectrum of international tax risks.

Canada is now working with its international partners to tackle these threats through joint collaboration, and will continue to collect and share an increasing amount of data. In addition to these global efforts, respective countries are pursuing both criminal and civil activities domestically.

Minister Lebouthillier also underlined the concrete steps being taken by the CRA here in Canada to crack down on tax cheats. Specifically linked to offshore tax havens, the CRA is currently conducting audits on over 750 taxpayers and criminally investigating 20 cases of tax evasion.

Today's announcement builds on the government's $444 million investment to provide the Canada Revenue Agency with more resources and tools to identify and curb offshore tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. The Government of Canada today reiterated its commitment to cracking down on tax cheats and those who choose to participate in tax schemes, through increased collaboration with international partners.

Quotes

"Hiding income and assets in foreign jurisdictions to avoid paying taxes is a serious issue that robs all hard-working Canadians of important services. By increasing our collaboration with our international partners, Canada is taking an active role in ensuring a fairer tax system, where tax cheats face consequences for their actions. This government has promised to pursue tax cheats and with the help of our international partners and concrete action at home, I can say that we are closing in on them."

- The Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, P.C., M.P., Minister of National Revenue

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Government of Canada cracks down on tax evasion

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Chloe Luciani-Girouard, Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of National Revenue
613-995-2960
Media Relations
Canada Revenue Agency
613-952-9184


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Distribution channels: U.S. Politics