A Canada Revenue Agency office accused of corrupt practices is committed to full transparency, according to managers that wrote a report to Parliament. MPs have yet to investigate whistleblower complaints senior auditors manipulated sweetheart tax settlements for offshore corporations..According to Blacklock's Reporter, the Competent Authority Services Division in its Annual Report to the House of Commons made no mention of the allegations. Complaints under the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act concerned tax settlements called “advance pricing arrangements” for large corporations..“The Advance Pricing Arrangement program has become a key compliance tool for the Revenue Agency while fostering a collaborative and cooperative relationship between taxpayers and other tax administrations,” said the report. “It demonstrates that communication, transparency and compromise permit mutually agreeable resolution of complex transfer pricing issues.”.Records show Agency management in 2019 and 2020 manipulated a seven-figure tax saving for an unidentified corporate lobbyist. At least five managers were involved in the scandal..Federal Court documents named Ted Gallivan, a former assistant revenue commissioner, as the senior executive who approved the “secretive tax deal” for the lobbyist. Gallivan left the Revenue Agency back in 2021..“There is a willingness for Gallivan and those near him to manipulate tax outcomes for specific taxpayers that are outside the normal procedures which are designed to maintain integrity and fairness in the administration of tax laws by the CRA,” one complainant wrote the Integrity Commissioner. The allegation was unproven. Gallivan has never responded to interview requests..Complainants claimed “employees were forced to rubber stamp documents to which they did not agree” and that Gallivan signed off on a tax settlement “without reading it.” One manager who “refused to rubber stamp the deal made by another one of Mr. Gallivan’s divisions” was told that “he had no choice and that ‘Ted wants this done,’” according to Court records filed by the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner..Gallivan was “instrumental in stickhandling the sweetheart tax treatment,” wrote one accuser. “Gallivan and those near him went to great lengths to cover up the sweetheart deals.”.“What did (they) get out of this?” read one staff complaint. “Prestige? A feeling of power? Influence? Future favours? 10M in a Swiss account?”.“It doesn’t matter,” the complaint continued. “It’s wrong no matter what they got. What are you going to do about it? Failure to act will result in us going to the Privy Council, the Auditor General, the Minister of Revenue and the Prime Minister.”.Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier last September 26 said she knew nothing of the tax settlements..“The minister respects the Agency’s arm’s length status and does not interfere in the outcomes of specific taxpayer files,” Lebouthillier’s staff wrote in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons. “Therefore, the minister and her staff do not participate in the process.”
