At the Toronto Centre Canada Revenue Agency & Tax Professionals Breakfast Seminar on June 10, 2014, the Canada Revenue Agency ("CRA") provided an update on selected CRA Compliance Measures in the Aggressive Tax Planning Division. The update was provided by Len Lubbers, Manager, GAAR and Technical Support, Aggressive Tax Planning Division of the Compliance Programs Branch.

Mr. Lubbers displayed and referred to a collection of powerpoint slides (some of which contained detailed statistics), but unlike previous seminars the CRA did not distribute copies of the slides during or after the presentation.

The CRA provided updates on (i) reportable tax avoidance transactions, (ii) the CRA's related party initiative, (iii) the T1135 foreign income verification statement, (iv) gifting tax shelters, and (v) third party penalties. Here is a brief recap of some of the highlights from the presentation:

Reportable Tax Avoidance Transactions

  • New subsection 237.3 of the Income Tax Act, which addresses reportable transactions, became effective as of June 26, 2013, with retroactive effect to January 1, 2011;
  • Taxpayers who must report a transaction under subsection 237.3 must file form RC312 "Reportable Transaction Information Return";
  • The deadline for 2012 and earlier years was October 23, 2013, and for subsequent years the RC312 information return is due by June 30 of the year following the transaction;
  • The CRA is currently reviewing the forms filed as of October 2013. The CRA did not disclose the number of RC312 forms that have been filed.

Related Party Initiative/High Net Worth Individual Program

  • The related party initiative program was piloted in 2005 and fully adopted in 2009;
  • The CRA considers that the title "Related Party Initiative" was "not particularly descriptive" of the program;
  • Initially, the program was targeted at individuals with a net worth of $50 million or more and where a taxpayer had 30 or more entities in a corporate group;
  • Several recent changes have expanded the scope of this initiative – namely, the CRA eliminated the requirement that the taxpayer's wealth be held in 30 or more corporate entities;
  • Additionally, the $50 million threshold for individuals will be relaxed to include corporate groups where there are significant assets held by a group of individuals. For example, consider three individuals that own companies valued at $100 million. Separately, these individuals would not meet the $50 million threshold, but under the new parameters these individuals will be included in the audit program if there is sufficient "economic interdependence";
  • Further, the long-form "questionnaire" issued by the CRA to taxpayers under audit in the program will now be used by the CRA to gather information from high-net worth individuals who are not under audit;
  • The CRA has formed audit teams in the Aggressive Tax Planning Division to handle these files (previously, these files were handled by audit teams in the Large Business Audit Division).

T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement

  • The T1135 Foreign Income Verification Statement was introduced in 1995 as a response to concerns about the growing popularity of the use of international tax havens;
  • A revised T1135 form was issued in June 2013;
  • Given the severity of penalties which result from failure to file the T1135 information form, the CRA recommends a voluntary disclosure be made by taxpayers.

Gifting Tax Shelters

  • The CRA continues to monitor and reassess gifting tax shelters;
  • As of 2014, the CRA has reassessed 189,000 taxpayers and denied more than $3 billion of donation tax credit claims;
  • The CRA has revoked the registration of charities that were involved in gifting tax shelters, and the CRA has imposed $162 million of third-party penalties;
  • The CRA noted that the number of participants in tax shelters has been decreasing (i.e.,  2012: 8,410 participants vs. 2013: 2,517 participants). The total donations to gifting tax shelters has also decreased (i.e.,  2012: $266,675,953 vs. 2013: $7,518,712);
  • The CRA noted the new rule in subsection 225.1(7) that requires a taxpayer to pay 50% of the amount assessed (or the amount in dispute);
  • As of 2013, for taxpayers who participate in a tax shelter, the CRA will not assess a taxpayer's return until the CRA has audited the tax shelter. In such cases, the CRA will assess a taxpayer's return if he/she agrees to have the tax shelter credit claim removed from the return.

Third-Party Civil Penalties

  • Section 163.2 was introduced in 2000 (section 285.1 of the Excise Tax Act contains a similar penalty);
  • The CRA's views on third party penalties is found in Information Circular IC-01-1 "Third Party Civil Penalties" (September 18, 2001);
  • Under section 163.2 there are two types of penalties: a tax planner penalty (under subsection 163.2(2)) and a tax preparer penalty (under subsection 163.2(4)). The CRA noted that both could apply to a taxpayer, but the maximum amount of the penalty in such a case would be the greater of the two amounts (i.e., the penalties are not combined (see subsection 163.2(14));
  • The process for the (potential) application of a penalty under section 163.2 is as follows: The local CRA auditor will gather facts of the taxpayer's activities and circumstances. If a third party penalty may be applied, the auditor will refer the file to his/her senior manager in the local office. If the senior manager agrees that a penalty may be applied, the file will be referred to the CRA's Third Party Penalty Review Committee at the CRA's Ottawa headquarters. A third party penalty will only be applied upon the approval of the Third Party Penalty Review Committee;
  • 195 files have been referred to the Third Party Penalty Review Committee. Of these files, the CRA has applied a penalty in 92 files (for penalties totalling $181 million), has declined to apply a penalty in 87 files, and 16 files remain on-going;
  • The CRA awaits the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Guindon v. The Queen (Docket # 35519),  which is tentatively scheduled to be heard on December 5, 2014. See our earlier blog posts on the Guindon case here and here.

For more information, visit our Canadian Tax Litigation blog at www.canadiantaxlitigation.com

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