Читать книгу Tax Survival for Canadians - Dale Barrett - Страница 11

Canada has agreements with numerous other countries, which prevent the double taxation of income otherwise subject to tax in both countries. These agreements (i.e., tax treaties) contain elaborate rules to determine which country gets to tax the income, and what part of the income the country may tax.

Besides preventing double taxation and establishing a country’s turf in terms of ability to tax a given taxpayer, these tax treaties also provide for the exchange of information between treaty partners. At the time of writing, in Canada there are currently 89 tax treaties in force, 10 more which have been signed but are not yet in force, and 2 more under negotiation. What this means for a taxpayer, is that there are potentially 101 countries which can be called upon by the CRA to provide any information it has on the taxpayer’s dealings in that country. This includes any financial transactions and records, income, pension earnings, and any other relevant information necessary for the CRA to enforce domestic taxation laws. Any income that one has earned or stashed in these countries is subject to being divulged to the CRA voluntarily, or as a result of a request. Further, some of the treaty countries will even cooperate with the CRA’s requests to obtain payment owed by a taxpayer and may seize assets and bank accounts held abroad by the taxpayer.