- Canada’s federal Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) regime is becoming more complex, leading to compliance challenges for taxpayers.
- The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has a Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) that allows taxpayers to disclose errors and omissions in their GST/HST reporting.
- The VDP allows taxpayers to rectify past tax mistakes and minimize penalties and interest.
- The program is rooted in Section 281.1 of the Excise Tax Act (ETA) and is administered by the CRA.
- The program rules can be found in the CRA’s administrative guide New Memorandum 16-5.
- The program promotes voluntary compliance and ensures that compliant taxpayers are not at a disadvantage.
- Types of GST/HST errors and omissions that can be disclosed include failure to collect or remit taxes, failure to file a tax return, and claiming ineligible tax credits or refunds.
- There are five conditions that must be met for a voluntary disclosure application to be considered valid by the CRA.
Source: dmainc.com
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
