Canada lost at least $ 247 million in unpaid taxes on foreign digital services and products last year: AG



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“I believe the results of your verification are clear: the government is giving up colossal revenues due to the lax policies of this government,” said Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, a deputy from Bloc Québécois.

For NDP MP Matthew Green, the 50% increase in tax income lost between 2017 and 2019 was nothing short of “mind-boggling.”

“And that’s without the COVID variable which I think will lead to astronomical numbers in 2020,” he added.

Its 2019 audit also concluded that the main departments responsible for ensuring that all necessary taxes were collected on online purchases outside Canada – the CRA and Canada Border Services Agency – did not take many concrete steps to do so.

The government forgoes colossal revenues due to lax policies

In the CRA case, he also noted in 2019 that the agency lacked some of the legal powers needed to better combat “non-compliance with tax laws.”

A year later, that hasn’t changed.

“As of today, the Canada Revenue Agency does not have the legislative authority to require foreign suppliers of physical and digital products sold in Canada to register, collect and submit the GST or HST,” noted Hogan.

The fact that Canada’s tax laws have not yet been updated to reflect the reality of the rise in online sales has bothered lawmakers from all opposition parties.

“This is disturbing for me to hear, because you are telling me that this liberal government has known this for six years, and yet no action has taken place,” NDP MP Matthew Green told committee witnesses.

During the committee meeting, CRA Commissioner Bob Hamilton told MPs that when the audit was released last year, he thought the agency was investing the appropriate amount of resources for the level of risk associated with the e-commerce sector. .

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