Whistleblower Program to Catch Tax Evaders Faces Serious Delays

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Official documents have revealed that the whistleblower program announced by the federal government last March, which focused on paying cash rewards to snitches who would lead to potential information to catch tax evaders, is several months overdue and is still not ready to be put in into practice until sometime later this year. The government announced “The Stop International Tax Evasion Program” in last year’s budget and the Conservatives’ boasted it as a key tool to battle the growing number of multibillion-dollar offshore tax evasions.

The program was primarily included in the federal budget, which brought significant attention of lawmakers on cracking down on tax cheats and closing tax loopholes, just as stressed in the G8 and G20 conferences where many members face pressure to step up their efforts to fight offshore tax evasion. Technically, the program could allow paying rewards up to 15% of the federal tax collected to whistleblowers in exchange for information that could lead to tax assessments exceeding $100,000.

However, according to the briefing materials provided to new Revenue Minister, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, during the July cabinet shuffle, which was obtained by several media outlets using access-to-information legislation, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had planned to launch the program last September. In addition to the program being delayed an extensive 10 months after the announcement, the program still might be delayed considerably further. Defending the accusation, CRA spokesperson Mylene Croteau mentioned that “the program is expected to be launched in 2014. More information will be available at that time.”

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