Federal budget 2016: Ottawa to step up efforts on tax cheats in bid to collect $2.6 billion in back taxes

The government is upgrading efforts to hack down on tax cheats, according to Budget 2016.

In its first federal budget, the brand new Liberal government said it will give you $444.4 million to the Canada Revenue Agency within the next five years so it can crack down on tax evasion and combat tax avoidance. 

The government says it expects these efforts to result in the collection of $2.6 billion in back taxes over the next five years. 

The crackdown will extend to what the authorities describes as “aggressive tax planning.” Budget 2016 will provide the CRA with $351.Six million in funding within the next 5 years “to improve being able to collect outstanding tax debts.”

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The government expects the proposed funding will result in the collection of $7.4 billion in tax debts within the next 5 years.

In the fiscal year ended 2015, Canada collected $496 billion in taxes and customs duties. The nation processed 28 million individual tax returns and identified $21.9 billion in “non-compliance.”

Typically, 90 per cent of taxpayers pay their taxes on time and without intervention.

Financial Post

dhasselback@nationalpost.com

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