Feds Begin Payouts to Informants for Offshore Tax Intelligence

The Canada Revenue Agency headquarters in Ottawa is shown on November 4, 2011. A recent rise in scam callers pretending to be employees of the agency has been troubling Canadians across the country. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

OTTAWA—The federal government has begun making payments to secret informants for intelligence that has so far brought in more than $19 million from offshore tax evaders.

Newly released documents say the Canada Revenue Agency issued the first payments under its offshore tax informant program between April 2018 and the end of March this year.

The Canada Revenue Agency headquarters in Ottawa. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

The program launched five years ago as part of the government’s efforts against international tax evasion.

The revenue agency says it cannot disclose the specific amounts paid to informants, as that data could potentially reveal their identities.

However, under the program, the reward is between five and 15 percent of the federal tax collected in cases where the amount assessed and recouped exceeds $100,000.

The new figures were recently presented to the House of Commons in response to written questions from New Democrat MP Pierre-Luc Dusseault.

NDP MP Pierre-Luc Dusseault. (Evan Ning/Epoch Times)