The Offshore Tax Informant Program (OTIP) was originally announced in January 2014 under the name Stop International Tax Evasion program. It's a reward program that allows the CRA to give financial awards to individuals who provide specific details related to major international tax evasion which lead to the assessment and collection of more than $100,000 of additional federal tax (excluding penalties and interest). The award is a variable amount of between 5% to 15% of the federal income tax collected. The CRA Offshore Compliance Division administers the Offshore Tax Informant Program including contacting informants, completing screening and risk assessments, referring cases for tax enforcement action, and paying out the awards amounts. In the 2014-2015 CRA Annual Report to Parliament that was submitted in January 2016 statistics about the OTIP were released. Because OTIP is new, CRA stated that activities during the period focused on public awareness of OTIP, and on developing policies, procedures, and strategies. CRA also finalized the processes for establishing the eligibility of tipsters. As of March 31, 2015, the program had received 1,920 calls. CRA identified 522 of those calls as coming from potential informants. Of those potential informants, 201 followed up with written submissions to CRA and 110 tax cases are actively under review. Our experienced Toronto tax attorneys can assist you if you have unreported offshore income or assts, or if you know of someone who does and need tax help with the Offshore Tax Informant Program.
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