From: canada.revenue.agency@hotmail.com   
      
   Critics want public hearings into Canada Revenue amnesty for KPMG offshore tax   
   dodgers  :CRA SOTW   
      
   Liberal revenue minister should withdraw amnesty offer for Isle of Man 'sham',   
   tax professor says   
      
   By Harvey Cashore, Dave Seglins, Kimberly Ivany, Frederic Zalac,   
    CBC News Posted: Mar 09, 2016 5:00 AM ET    
      
    The federal government should call public hearings into why the Canada   
   Revenue Agency offered amnesty to the high net worth clients of KPMG who were   
   involved in an offshore tax avoidance scheme, prominent tax groups,   
   politicians and other legal experts    
   said in the wake of a CBC News/Radio-Canada exposé.    
      
      
   In fact, Laval University tax professor Andre Lareau says the new revenue   
   minister, Diane Lebouthillier, should undo the deal as soon as possible.   
      
      
   "The offer should just be withdrawn right now," Lareau said. In effect, he   
   says, the CRA is saying to these wealthy clients "we're giving you absolution."   
      
      
   In question period yesterday, NDP leader Tom Mulcair called on Prime Minister   
   Justin Trudeau to launch a probe into the secret offer.   
      
      
   "Stop protecting the rich, start protecting a tax system that's fair for all,"   
   Mulcair said. "How many other times has this happened, and is the prime   
   minister going to call an investigation?"   
      
      
   Dennis Howlett, the head of Canadians for Tax Fairness, also wants the new   
   Liberal government to hold public hearings into CRA's "no-penalties" deal with   
   KPMG's multi-millionaire clients.   
      
      
   "I would like to call on the new government to launch a full investigation,"   
   Howlett said, after reviewing the leaked document, obtained by CBC   
   News/Radio-Canada, about what had been a secret deal.   
      
      
   "Who was responsible for this? What kind of deals were made? At what level?   
      
      
   "The best way to get to the bottom of this is a full public inquiry," Howlett   
   said.   
      
      
   Howlett also pointed out that the Liberals campaigned on a platform to   
   overhaul the Canada Revenue Agency, pledging an additional $80 million over   
   four years to crack down on tax avoiders and evaders.   
      
      
   "So here's the opportunity to show us that they're serious about those   
   promises and that they will deliver. And boy oh boy is there ever a need for   
   that now."   
      
      
   'Worse than a tax haven'   
      
      
   The secret CRA offer was dated May 1, 2015 and allowed for some of KPMG's   
   elite clients, who had invested in a KPMG-directed Isle of Man tax shelter, to   
   avoid the normal penalties by simply paying back taxes and some modest   
   interest on income they failed    
   to declare.   
      
      
   The scheme had been going on for more than 10 years, but CRA auditors only   
   discovered it in 2012. Soon after they began court proceedings to try to get   
   KPMG to divulge the identity of those involved.   
      
      
   That case was never concluded, but documents filed in court last fall revealed   
   that 15 of 21 KPMG clients had "self-identified" to the CRA, apparently in   
   response to the May offer.   
      
      
   The agency's amnesty offer was made on the strict condition it was never made   
   public.   
   For confidential tips on this story email INVESTIGATIONS@CBC.CA or call Harvey   
   Cashore at 416-526-4704   
      
      
   Lareau, who travelled to the Isle of Man in 2015 with CBC/Radio-Canada   
   journalists to investigate the offshore scheme, said it is hard to fathom why   
   the CRA made the secret offer in the first place.   
      
      
   An internationally respected tax law expert, Lareau says he's particularly   
   troubled that the agency insisted that the agreement could be terminated by   
   the CRA if the KPMG clients spoke to others about the secret offer.     
      
      
   He argues the public was deliberately kept in the dark.   
      
      
   "Canada is even worse than [a] tax haven where there's no transparency,"   
   Lareau said, after reading the confidentiality clause.   
      
      
   He also said that if the new minister calls for an investigation, it should be   
   broad enough to look at KPMG itself, and how it kept the Isle of Man tax   
   scheme hidden from the taxman for more than a decade.   
      
      
   "It would be a sign by the new government that they mean business and that   
   they want more transparency," he said.   
      
      
   Under advisement   
      
      
   In an interview with CBC News, Ted Gallivan, the CRA's head of compliance,   
   said he would take professor Lareau's comments under advisement.   
      
      
   "You're giving me new information," he told CBC News/Radio-Canada. "The CRA   
   has taken very seriously the questions that CBC has posed. And so if certain   
   experts are going to give representation and give views, the CRA will listen."   
      
      
   In a statement on its website late yesterday afternoon, the CRA said it   
   considers the KPMG case an "active file," which will be pursued to the fullest   
   extent possible "as we do with all other cases of aggressive non-compliance."   
      
      
   It also said it "believes firmly" that all participants in tax evasion and   
   avoidance schemes must be identified and brought into compliance, and that it   
   takes action against tax professionals who help with these schemes.    
      
      
   At the same time, it defended the use of confidentiality clauses in negotiated   
   settlements as something that is done on a case by case basis and "is typical   
   in legal proceedings involving CRA audit and enforcement programs."   
      
      
      
   For his part, Gallivan said that he sees no need at this juncture for public   
   hearings. "I've seen no information that would cause me to recommend or even   
   support a public inquiry."   
      
      
   Gallivan, who only recently became the assistant commissioner in charge of   
   compliance at the CRA, said he was personally unaware of the agency's   
   settlement offer to KPMG clients.   
      
      
   "We completed over 9,000 aggressive tax planning cases last year with a total   
   of $1.6 billion," Gallivan said.   
      
      
   "This is a very important file but it doesn't represent even one per cent of   
   the volume of work we do."   
      
      
   Court records indicate that at least 26 clients parked more than $130 million   
   offshore in the KPMG scheme.   
      
      
   Toronto tax lawyer wants same deal for his clients   
      
      
   Toronto tax lawyer Duane Milot, who represents dozens of middle-income   
   taxpayers in disputes with the CRA, said this offer shows there is a   
   "double-standard" between how his clients have been treated by the agency   
   compared to these well-off clients of    
   KPMG.   
   "I think the CRA has to explain its behaviour," Milot said. "Canadians are   
   entitled to know what the agency is doing, and you can't go around making   
   these sweet deals for millionaires and not explain why you did it."   
      
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)