From: canada.revenueagency@hotmail.com   
      
   Top CRA compliance official lobbied by ex-colleague to restrict auditor   
   powers  : CRA SOTW   
      
   CRA deputy discussed ‘non-legislative’ proposals for limits on federal tax   
   authorities   
      
   By Kimberly Ivany, Harvey Cashore, CBC News   
      
   A top Canada Revenue Agency compliance official was lobbied by a former CRA   
   "special adviser" on tax compliance to place restrictions on how federal   
   auditors obtain information from accounting firms, according to documents   
   obtained by CBC News under    
   Access to Information.   
      
      
   Emails and other records show that on Sept. 8, 2014, Ted Gallivan, the CRA's   
   deputy assistant commissioner of compliance, met with a lobbyist for the   
   Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada, Bill Dobson, himself a former   
   CRA compliance adviser who    
   moved from government to industry in early 2013.   
      
      
   Those records show a discussion about "non-legislative" rule changes relating   
   to industry's desire to keep certain documents "confidential" between   
   accountants and their clients.    
      
      
   Instead of seeking a new law that would require parliamentary approval, the   
   two men discussed "administrative" changes that could be made within the CRA.   
      
      
   There is no information in the access-to-information documents about whether   
   any of these proposals went further than the meeting.   
      
      
   Gallivan, who would later become assistant commissioner of compliance, is now   
   assistant commissioner of the CRA's international, large business and   
   investigative branch. He is scheduled to testify before the Commons finance   
   committee later today, along    
   with other CRA officials, to face questions about the CRA's amnesty offer to   
   KPMG clients caught using an offshore tax dodge.   
      
      
   CPA Canada, a nationwide tax industry association, has been lobbying   
   government officials for years to restrict when accountants have to provide   
   client information to tax authorities.   
      
      
   Three days after the September 2014 lobby meeting, industry representative   
   Bill Dobson wrote an email to the CRA outlining his "understanding" of what   
   was discussed with Gallivan and his assistant.   
      
      
   CRA’s Ted Gallivan met with a CPA Canada lobbyist to discuss a   
   countant-client confidentiality. (CBC)   
      
      
   Under the heading "Right of Confidentiality," Dobson wrote that, "Ted   
   continues to look for a proposal that compliance programs branch can   
   support."     
      
      
   According to Dobson's version of the meeting, the CRA's Gallivan said there   
   were concerns within his compliance programs branch coming from the "large   
   case" audit group.   
      
      
   Gallivan said that a particular group of CRA bureaucrats believed implementing   
   "confidentiality" for accountants and their clients could be a "significant   
   impediment" to CRA's "right to information," Dobson wrote in his report.   
      
      
   Dobson's note indicates Gallivan was "encouraged" to learn that CPA Canada was   
   not asking for blanket confidentiality and supported disclosing some   
   taxpayer/accountant documents, including what's known as "tax risk facts."   
      
      
   Dobson also wrote that "Ted agrees" the CRA's compliance branch should not be   
   permitted to make decisions on its own about what to collect from accounting   
   firms, but that the process should go through a third party within the agency.   
   The note says there    
   was discussion about involving CRA's appeals branch and making "changes to the   
   audit manual."   
      
      
   Other ideas included requiring the CRA to provide a "supplemental information   
   request" to explain why it was "necessary" to obtain documents from a   
   taxpayer's accountant.    
   Neither Dobson nor Gallivan responded to CBC News for comment on the   
   access-to-information documents or to discuss what happened, if anything, as a   
   result of the September 2014 lobby meeting.   
      
      
   Gabe Hayos, vice-president of tax for CPA Canada and a former KPMG tax   
   executive, told CBC News last year that the association had deliberately   
   decided to pursue confidentiality protection through the Canada Revenue Agency   
   instead of at the elected level.   
      
      
   "We have tried to see if we simplify it by not going the political route," he   
   said.  He added that if CRA was in agreement with confidentiality proposals   
   for accountants and taxpayers, it would be "easier" to go to the next level of   
   getting a legislative    
   solution.   
   Hayos also told CBC News he hired Dobson because the former bureaucrat had   
   held senior positions in the CRA, including its compliance division, and   
   understood the CRA's inner workings.    
      
   Dennis Howlett of Canadians for Tax Fairness raises questions about why CPA   
   Canada is lobbying so hard for accountant confidentiality. (CBC)   
      
      
   Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness, wonders why   
   CPA Canada is lobbying so hard for accountant confidentiality when the CRA   
   doesn't publicly identify taxpayers under routine audit.   
      
      
   "CRA's going to keep the information confidential," Howlett said. "If they've   
   got nothing to hide, if there's nothing improper being done, then why should   
   they try to hide that?"   
   By the time of the September 2014 lobby meeting, court records show CPA Canada   
   had already sought to intervene in the CRA court case to get the names of the   
   KPMG clients involved in the alleged Isle of Man tax dodge — also on the   
   principle of    
   confidentiality.   
   CPA Canada has said it wasn't hoping to get involved in the court case to   
   support KPMG's offshore scheme, but rather because it believes all Canadians   
   have a right to confidential tax advice.   
      
      
   In his testimony before the Commons finance committee on Tuesday, KPMG's   
   Gregory Wiebe echoed the same principle in refusing to reveal the names of the   
   clients.   
      
      
   KPMG tax partner Greg Wiebe testified in front of the Commons finance   
   committee Tuesday. (Parliament of Canada)   
      
      
   "It is our view that it is our responsibility to keep our clients' affairs   
   private, and we take that responsibility very seriously. It's a responsibility   
   from a KPMG perspective, and frankly it's a professional obligation we have as   
   CPAs in Canada to    
   keep our client information private."   
      
      
   The CRA's case against KPMG moved to out-of-court discussions in October 2013   
   - before the industry association could receive official intervener status.    
   In May 2015, the CRA offered a secret amnesty to the KPMG clients caught using   
   the Isle of Man tax    
   dodge, the details of which were leaked to CBC News in a brown envelope.   
      
      
   Industry lobbying nothing 'sinister'   
      
      
   David Chodikoff, a Toronto tax lawyer and author, says CPA Canada's lobbying   
   of the Canada Revenue Agency is to be expected.   
      
      
      
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