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Paradise Papers and the new voluntary disclosures program

December 20, 2017 Nicolas Simard

On November 5, 2017, a massive leak of financial documents referred to as the Paradise Papers was released to the public. The leak involves multiple jurisdictions and contains nearly 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investment. The Paradise Papers comes largely from Appleby, a law firm based in Bermuda, and from the corporate registries of 19 tax havens.

The Paradise Papers cover the period from 1950 to 2016 and involve over 120,000 people and companies across the world, including government officials, entertainment personalities and corporate giants. It also involves more than 3,000 Canadian individuals and corporations, which is five times more than the ones from the Panama Papers.

On November 3, 2017, just a few days prior to this new leak, the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) delivered a statement (document) to highlight its work to combat tax evasion and tax avoidance. The CRA stated having “currently more than 990 audits and more than 42 criminal investigations related to offshore underway”, 123 of which involve participants and facilitators named in the Panama Papers. In light of the recent Paradise Papers leak, the CRA already announced that it is reviewing the data and promised to take “appropriate action”.

Furthermore, as part of the CRA’s strategy to combat offshore tax evasion and aggressive tax planning, the CRA announced earlier this year that a revised voluntary disclosures program policy would be introduced in 2018. The proposed changes were initially supposed to be implemented on January 1, 2018, but the CRA is delaying the implementation until March 1, 2018. The formal keys changes confirmed by the CRA will :

eliminate the « no-names » disclosure process;

require payment of the estimated tax at the time of the application;

cancel relief if it is subsequently discovered that the application was not complete due to a misrepresentation; and

create a two tracks system by introducing a « General Program » for minor non-compliance and a « Limited Program » for major non-compliance with limited relief in certain circumstances;

Such circumstances could include, for example :

Situations where large amounts of tax were avoided;

Active efforts to avoid detection and the use of complex offshore structures;

Multiple years of non-compliance;

Disclosures motivated by CRA statements regarding its intended focus of compliance, by broad-based tax compliance programs or by the reception of leaked confidential information by the CRA such as the Paradise Papers data leak; and

Other circumstances in which the CRA considers that there was a high degree of guilt in the taxpayer’s conduct contributing to his failure to comply.

Analysis, Canada, Cross-border (Canada/US)

Transfer Pricing Developments

September 2, 2016 Christopher Steeves

Transfer pricing issues continue to be an important focus for multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) and tax authorities. This post summarizes some of the significant developments in Canada that have arisen so far in 2016 and what to look forward to in the coming months. In particular, we highlight a decision of the Federal Court of Appeal, Canada’s implementation of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan and some significant transfer pricing cases that are working their way through the Tax Court of Canada. Continue reading »

Analysis, Canada

How to object to a tax assessment in Canada

August 30, 2015 Nicolas Simard

A GST/HST or income tax audit may result in an assessment that the taxpayer does not agree with. In this situation, it would be in the best interest of the taxpayer to object to a tax assessment by following these steps:

Audit

A tax audit on a specific subject can be short (an audit of the business promotional expenses and advertising) or if it is more general in nature, it can be longer (for example dealing with unreported income). During the audit stage, the taxpayer will be asked to provide documentary evidence, bank statements and explanations supporting his position in relation to the audited items. Many audits go well, however, some do not.

Draft Assessment

Generally, prior to the issuance of a notice of assessment following the audit, the auditor issues a draft assessment and invites the taxpayer to make representations prior to a predetermined date (usually 21 days). The taxpayer should take this opportunity to make representations explaining why he disagrees. It is preferable to make written representations and to submit any additional documents at this stage. It is wise to obtain professional assistance from an expert in the field to help with the representations during this period.

Assessment

Following the representations on the draft assessment, it is possible that the Revenue agency (Quebec or Canada) will issue an assessment. Whether it is for income tax or GST/HST, this assessment carries interest at the prescribed rate starting on the day on the notice. Whether the taxpayer contests it or not, it is generally advisable to pay the amounts assessed in order to avoid an accumulation of interest. Furthermore, tax laws permit the imposition of costly penalties in certain circumstances, for example, gross negligence, which can form part of the assessment.

Analysis, Canada, Israel

Foreign bank account in Israel: Last chance for voluntary disclosure

June 30, 2015 Nicolas Simard

On March 16, 2015, The Bank of Israel issued an anti-tax evasion directive aimed at avoiding Israeli financial institutions being used by foreign taxpayers to move assets and income offshore, out of reach of the tax authorities of their countries of residence. Israel may now obtain bank information on accounts opened by non-residents and it will begin the process of exchanging tax information with other countries, such as Canada, in 2017.

The directive stipulates that Israeli banks must require their foreign clients to provide them with a declaration containing the following information:

the customer’s country of residence for tax purposes;
confirmation from the client that his or her aggregate investments and assets have been reported to the tax authorities of the resident jurisdiction (e.g., Canada) or, alternatively, a declaration to the effect that he or she has initiated a voluntary disclosure procedure in the resident jurisdiction; and
a waiver from the taxpayer pursuant to which Israeli banks would be allowed to provide confidential bank account information to non-Israeli tax authorities

Israel may disclose the identity of their non-resident clients and report the funds held in their accounts to the tax authorities of their respective countries of residence

Analysis, Canada, Français

Comptes bancaires en Israël et échange automatique d’information

June 5, 2015 Nicolas Simard

Le 16 mars dernier, la Banque d’Israël a émis une directive ayant pour objet de contrer l’évasion fiscale internationale et d’éviter que les institutions financières israéliennes ne soient utilisées par certains contribuables étrangers afin de réduire indûment leur fardeau fiscal dans leur pays de résidence.

Cette directive prévoit notamment que les banques israéliennes devront obtenir de leurs clients étrangers une déclaration contenant :

Le pays de résidence fiscale du client;
Une attestation du client à l’effet qu’il a déclaré l’ensemble des investissements et avoirs qu’il détient auprès de l’institution financière israélienne visée aux autorités fiscales de son pays de résidence, ou, alternativement, une déclaration du client à l’effet qu’il a entamé un processus de divulgation volontaire dans son pays de résidence; et
Une décharge du contribuable relativement à la confidentialité de ses informations financières vis-à-vis des autorités fiscales de son pays de résidence.

En d’autres termes, les banques israéliennes s’autorisent à communiquer l’information relative à leurs clients étrangers aux autorités fiscales de leur pays de résidence. Continue reading »