From: AlanBaggett@volcanomail.com   
      
   Rising writeoffs cost Ottawa over $4B last year : CRA SOTW   
      
   Jason Fekete    
   Published: November 6, 2013, 4:57 pm   
      
      
   OTTAWA — The federal government wrote off or dismissed more than $4 billion   
   last fiscal year in money it was owed — a 38-per-cent increase from just two   
   years ago — at a time it has been trying to eliminate a deficit estimated at   
   more than $18 billion.   
      
   Ottawa’s write-offs, forgiveness and waivers on debts owed to the federal   
   government totalled about $4.3 billion in the 2012-13 fiscal year, up more   
   than $350 million from the previous year, newly released federal public   
   accounts show.   
      
   Over the past two years, the worth of debts and obligations lost by the   
   federal government from write-offs, forgiveness, remissions and waivers has   
   risen nearly $1.2 billion (to $4.3 billion in 2012-13 from $3.1 billion in   
   2010-11).   
      
   Leading the way in tax-dollar write-offs and forgiveness is the Canada Revenue   
   Agency, with more than $3.3 billion uncollected from hundreds of thousands of   
   cases of unpaid tax debts due to bankruptcy, failure to find people, and when   
   all avenues of    
   collection have been “exhausted.” About $3 billion of that total was in direct   
   write-offs.   
      
   “The CRA uses every effort to collect all tax debts from those who do not pay   
   voluntarily. Over time, it is inevitable that some tax balances will not be   
   collected and eventually written off,” the CRA said Wednesday in a statement.   
      
   In 2012-13, the agency resolved $37.3 billion in tax debts through collection,   
   CRA officials say. In the case of write-offs, taxpayers are still obligated to   
   pay their debts, and the CRA can still collect the debt if the taxpayers are   
   located or their    
   financial situation improves in future.   
      
   Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (now known as Employment and   
   Social Development Canada) was next on the list, with about $528 million in   
   write-offs, forgiveness and waivers. The department’s write-offs in 2012-13   
   included about $231 million    
   on 44,000 uncollected student loans — bringing total student loan write-offs   
   to more than half a billion dollars in two years.   
      
   The mounting losses from write-offs and other uncollected obligations come at   
   a time the Conservative government is tightening purse strings across federal   
   departments and laying off thousands of public sector employees. The cash   
   could also come in handy    
   in paying down a federal deficit that totalled $18.9 billion at the end of the   
   2012-13 fiscal year. The Conservative government has promised to eliminate the   
   deficit in time for the 2015 federal election.   
      
   The federal public accounts also show hundreds of millions of dollars worth of   
   fraudulent claims and stolen goods.   
      
   The government paid out nearly $160 million in fake employment insurance   
   claims last fiscal year, up nearly 25 per cent from the previous year, the   
   documents show, although the government expects to eventually recover almost   
   all of that money.   
      
   Also, thieves stole millions of dollars worth of military weapons and   
   accessories, as well as dozens of federally issued BlackBerrys, laptops, iPads   
   and USB keys in the last fiscal year, the documents show.   
   The financial reports also show unauthorized use of government-issued credit   
   cards and fraudulent sick-day claims by Canada Revenue Agency employees.   
      
   jfekete@postmedia.com Twitter.com/jasonfekete   
      
   Debts, obligations and claims written off or forgiven by the federal   
   government in the 2012-13 fiscal year:   
      
   Write-offs: Number — 374,558; Amount — $3.4 billion   
   Forgiveness: Number — 352,436; Amount — $646 million   
   Remissions: Number — 75,575; Amount — $10.7 million   
   Waivers: Number — 366,014; Amount — $271 million   
   Total: Number — 1,168,583; Amount — $4.3 billion   
      
   Highest-value write-offs, forgiveness and waivers by federal departments and   
   agencies:    
   Canada Revenue Agency: $3.3 billion;    
   Human Resources and Skills Development Canada: $528 million   
   Federal budget deficit in 2012-13: $18.9 billion   
   Total federal expenses in 2012-13: $275.6 billion   
      
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