The federal government approved a sharp spike in large corporate writeoffs last year, with 11 companies receiving $1.2-billion in combined writeoffs for tax debt and other financial obligations, new figures show.
The 11 companies accounted for nearly a quarter of the $4.9-billion in writeoffs approved last year, which covered a 1½ million cases of corporate and individual writeoffs.
Citing privacy reasons, the Canada Revenue Agency is not identifying the businesses and individuals who had their debts waived. The CRA can write off debts owed to the government for a wide range of reasons, such as bankruptcy, extraordinary circumstances or financial hardship.
Conservative MP and revenue critic Adam Chambers said Ottawa should name those who are receiving large writeoffs and questioned why they are rising even as the agency’s budget and staffing levels are increasing.
National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau recently provided a breakdown of writeoff statistics in response to a written parliamentary request by Conservative Senator David Wells.
The figures show the CRA approved $4.9-billion in writeoffs in the 2023-24 fiscal year that ended in March. That was the highest amount over the past nine fiscal years that were disclosed. The breakdowns indicate that the value of the writeoffs is heavily weighted toward a small number of large cases.
The figures cover writeoffs and waivers of tax debts and other obligations under the Financial Administration Act (FAA), the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Excise Tax Act and the Income Tax Act. The vast majority of the writeoffs were approved under the FAA.
The minister’s answer to the Senate states that the agency is prevented under legislation in some cases from releasing data where a person could be directly or indirectly identified.
The documents show that the average writeoff for the top five highest amounts under the FAA was $204.4-million, meaning more than $1-billion in writeoffs for just five taxpayers. The CRA would not say whether all five taxpayers were corporations, saying in an e-mail that it is possible an individual is part of the top five grouping but could not confirm for privacy reasons.
Mr. Chambers said Canadians should know which taxpayers have received large writeoffs from Ottawa.
He said the nearly $5-billion in total writeoffs, of which more than $1-billion applies to just five cases, is very concerning. He also questions why such large writeoffs have been approved at a time when the same agency is chasing down small businesses and individuals for ineligible pandemic benefit payments such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) that are much smaller in size.
“We’re talking about corporations that are getting writeoffs to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. There should be more transparency about how that is working,” he said.
“It raises questions about who they are. Do they have connections? Are they well represented by lobbyists?“ he asked. “Why are we having record amounts of writeoffs?”
“Friends of the Liberal Party” is the only business case that is lucrative in canada.
My uninformed guess is that the word “green” is involved.
And maybe “vert”.
one assumes these companies are all headquartered in the same province.
As in the “green” legalized marijuana wasn’t bringing in quite the tax revenue as advertised?
I take this as further indication of economic collapse. The money likely isn’t there to collect. You can’t get blood from a stone.
Butt Rusty, if I owe the bassturds 20 cents!
This is my understanding. They can keep the scam going this way, whereas if they insist then the music stops and nobody has a chair.
Truly, I have no words. The sheer mendacity.
Cotporate(?) cronyism of a different flavor. One final payoff to liberal friendly entities before the Liberals are ousted? (Perhaps some of it to be funnelled back to Liberals at some future date)? As an aside, where is the CBC on this?
to think they came after schmuck me 3 times for example incorrectly believing a cheque for same amount every month same payee identified as rent, was unacceptable as proof of rent paid and the amount.
but l beat them every time with documentation. had the audacity a ways after the 3rd occurrence to ask if the planned on a 4th because l wd take it to the newspapers how they squandered the taxes they did collect chasing after more l didnt owe.
I wonder if TD was one of them.
“In an explosive interview regarding U.S. government investigations into billions of dollars of fentanyl-cash laundering through Toronto-Dominion Bank and other major U.S. banks, David Asher, a former senior investigator working with the State Department, CIA, and DEA Special Operations Division, stated that transnational mafias co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party run North American money laundering networks through a “command and control” structure centered in Toronto and linked to the notorious Markham, Ontario-based narco-kingpin known as Tse Chi Lop, a.k.a. ‘Brother Number 3.’ “
Sam Cooper – The Bureau
There is tax havens and corporate crime havens, Toronto falls under the latter.
Without transparency there is no reason to believe the CRA isn’t rewarding friends of the ruling junta.
Didn’t Trudeau claim they are or would be the most transparent government ever!!? Yes he did but that was before the election, not after.
powercorp, paul martin’s shipping, morneau-shepell
Libranos corporate frenz, huh?
How bout SNC Lavalin? Glowbull/Corus? A failing aerospace venture? There’s just too many targets of Libranos graft and corruption.
Is this why Meethead had a hissyfit?
#Meety doesn’t want to get any on him when it all hits the fan. That’s what’s going on there.
You generally don’t owe income tax if you lost a bunch of money. My guess is that they collected HST but didn’t remit it and squandered the dough in the meantime. Likewise, might include payroll taxes (income, CPP, EI), deducted it from employees, didn’t remit it (or their share of CPP, EI) and squandered the dough.
Would be better to bankrupt such deadbeats than give them more rope.
Could also be reassessment for prior years. I recall BMO set up an offshore company that CRA didn’t like and then lost a court case on it. Maybe they’re finally realizing they can’t collect. I read there is up to $13 billion in reassessment backlog – much of it uncollectable.
CRA lost the court case.
Must be nice, they seized my income tax return because I did not file a piece of paper stating my business made 0 dollars in 2023-never mind they didn’t send said paper.
The Liberal/NDP Globalist Party are showing the world what it would be like if gangsters ruled over a country rather than a political party.
I wonder what “green business” from Queerbak were “entitled” to their entitlements.
I guess we’ll never know.
Gangsters know to never leave a paper trail.
Jagmeet Singh talks about “corporate greed” but supports el Turd and these write offs.
Why won’t Jagmeet name Names?
There are no writeoffs for deplorables with unacceptable views, especially if they are Westerners who don’t elect Librano MPs.
I can tell you straight up that it’s not ordinary Canadians; they’re pursued and their asset seized on a regular basis. Forget that they may be the victims of CRA wrongdoing (as in destroying client documents regarding expenses and then denying said expense claims), the ordinary taxpayer is pursued relentlessly.