January had hit the world with a renewed assault by CRA on Canadians across this land. Audit and tax problems are becoming a part of everyday life for small business in Canada.

It is not just tax cheaters they are after,,, they are after anything that they can attack.

Every Canadian needs to learn how to protect themselves from what is coming from CRA.

To learn more about taxes and tax problems, go to [1] www.taxauditsolutions.ca

Dan White

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Taxman has eye out for cheaters, by the Cochrane Report

As income tax time moves closer, the Canada Revenue Agency has begun its annual campaign to warn cheaters about the trouble they could be in, and how they can use the Voluntary Disclosures Program.

The CRA says it is aggressively addressing non compliance. Last year, the agency conducted over 350,000 audit and review actions, including about 17,300 underground economy audits, and more than 1,100 audits of taxpayers suspected of earning income from illegal activities.

The CRA completed 20,750 international audits and 34,111 audits of tax shelters. The CRA identified a total dollar value of $5.7 billion in non”‘compliance for international and large business and $2.1 billion for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The CRA reassessed over 20,000 individuals who had participated in at least one of 20 unacceptable tax shelter gifting arrangements.

The CRA completed 148 interprovincial tax avoidance cases, which resulted in more than $300 million worth of taxes being recovered.

“These accomplishments led to results in the courts, including significant fines and — for some people — jail time,” the agency said this week.

The CRA is a member of international organizations that work to tackle the abusive use of tax havens. International partnerships help us uncover schemes that are developed abroad and marketed in Canada. Taxpayers with unreported assets and income offshore could face penalties of up to 50 per cent of unreported tax on income and five per cent per year for any unreported assets.

The agency says taxpayers who have not reported all of their income can voluntarily correct their tax affairs. They will not be penalized or prosecuted if they make a valid disclosure before they become aware of compliance actions being started by the CRA against them. These individuals may only have to pay the taxes owing, plus interest. More information on the VDP can be found on the CRA Web site at www.cra.gc.ca/voluntarydisclosures.

* The Cochrane Report appears each Wednesday and Saturday. Items for publication may be submitted by e-mail to cochrana@timestranscript.com, or by fax to 859-4904.