Globe & Mail;

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?”