TaxEd International | Fasken Tax Blog
Trends, analysis and insights in international tax
La 7e édition du répertoire International Tax Review fait mention de cinq associés de Fasken à titre de chefs de file dans le domaine du contentieux fiscal au Canada. Cette reconnaissance prestigieuse est basée sur leur succès remarquable au cours de la dernière année et des commentaires positifs de pairs et de clients.
Les cinq associés figurant dans la liste des chefs de file en litige fiscal de 2017 sont :
Félicitations aux associés nommés!
(The full version of this bulletin was originally published on Fasken.com – “The Federal Government’s Proposals Targeting Private Corporation Tax Planning” – August 3, 2017.)
On July 18, 2017 (the “Consultation Date”), the Minister of Finance (Canada), the Honourable William Morneau, released the Government’s proposals to address tax planning commonly used by private corporations and their owners in the form of a paper (the “Consultation Paper”) and draft legislation amending the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Tax Act”) to implement certain of the proposed measures.
The Government addresses three broad issues in the Consultation Paper:
Selected proposals and tax measures are detailed below.
The Consultation Paper notes that the Government has imposed a progressive personal income tax system with five marginal tax rates ranging between 15 percent and 33 percent that apply at different taxable income thresholds. The Government is concerned with arrangements that effectively transfer income that may otherwise be taxable in the hands of a high-income individual to a family member subject to lower tax rates resulting in lower tax receipts for the Government (“income sprinkling”).
The Tax Act currently has a number of provisions that deny or limit the potential benefits of income sprinkling, but the Government believes that additional measures are necessary with a particular focus on investments in private corporations.
The measures proposed by the Government fall into three categories:
This posts was originally published on White Collar Post under “Panama Papers: CRA getting tougher on tax evasion” – a Fasken Martineau blog.
We are beginning to see the legal enforcement fallout from the now infamous Panama Papers. Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) concerted efforts to find undeclared offshore money and assets is moving into full gear. In addition to pursuing typical civil audits, the CRA is now executing search warrants and launching criminal investigations for tax evasion.
The CRA is actively gathering information from domestic and international sources to identify and charge offenders criminally. Since 2015, the Canadian government has required domestic financial institutions to report to the CRA all international electronic fund transfers of $10,000 or more. In addition, as of March 2016 the CRA has analyzed over 41,000 transactions worth over $12 billion dollars, involving four jurisdictions and particular financial institutions of concern, and has initiated risk assessments on 1,300 individuals named in the Panama Papers. This has resulted in approximately 122 CRA audits to date and counting. However, it is not just taxpayers who are subject to the CRA’s scrutiny and who may be criminally charged. The CRA is also investigating the enablers and advisors, including the lawyers and accountants, who facilitated the hiding of taxpayer money and assets offshore.
In order to increase tax transparency across the globe, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) adopted the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) on July 15, 2014. The CRS initiative calls on each participating jurisdiction to obtain information from financial institutions within their country and automatically exchange that information with other jurisdictions on an annual basis. The objective is to increase tax compliance by providing key information to the participating jurisdictions allowing them to identify whether their citizens accurately report their foreign assets and income. However, since the CRS is not constraining, 90 jurisdictions have also signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on automatic exchange of financial account information. The MCAA provides a mechanism to facilitate the exchange of information in accordance with the CRS. Such information to be disclosed includes the following :
Afin d’accroître la transparence fiscale à travers le monde, l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) a adopté la norme commune de déclaration (NCD) le 15 juillet 2014. L’initiative de la NCD invite les juridictions participantes à obtenir des renseignements auprès des institutions financières de leur pays et à les échanger automatiquement avec d’autres juridictions sur une base annuelle. L’objectif est d’accroître l’observation des règles fiscales en fournissant des renseignements importants aux juridictions participantes afin de leur permettre de déterminer si leurs citoyens déclarent correctement leurs actifs et leurs revenus étrangers.
Cependant, puisque la NCD n’est pas contraignante, 90 juridictions ont également signé l’Accord Multilatéral entre Autorités Compétentes (AMAC) sur l’échange automatique de renseignements financiers. L’AMAC fournit un mécanisme pour faciliter l’échange de renseignements conformément à la NCD. Les renseignements à divulguer comprennent ce qui suit :
