Читать книгу Tax Survival for Canadians - Dale Barrett - Страница 26

Most people file a personal income tax return each year either because they owe taxes or because they wish to receive a refund for overpaid taxes. Those who operate corporations will also likely file a corporate tax return as well as one or more GST or HST returns per year.

The tax filing system in Canada relies on taxpayers to self-asses their income, and when filing their returns, the majority of taxpayers provide complete and accurate information. Despite the possibility of serious penalties and potential imprisonment, a great many are not so forthcoming with correct information. Some people intentionally try to avoid taxes by failing to declare all their income, or by inflating their expenses or charitable contributions, and a great many others make unintentional errors on their returns. Although the odds are against a taxpayer being audited for any given year, despite the possible upside of paying less tax by being dishonest on one’s return, the penalties can be so severe that most people don’t attempt it.

While allowing the taxpayers to self-assess their income, and without having massive audit departments, the CRA is successful at collecting hundreds of billions of dollars per year without having more than a couple hundred convictions in court each year for failure to file returns and tax evasion.