The building trades are being put on notice by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Assistant Revenue Commissioner Ted Gallivan told the Commons finance committee that workplace safety violations may lead to a tax audit, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
Gallivan said auditors have used accidents and injuries data to get into the books of contractors.
“They pick up intelligence from things like worker safety, you know this idea that a construction company that plays fast and loose with the safety of its employees may not be all compliant with their tax obligations either,” said Gallivan.
Since launching special audit teams in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto in 2019, Gallivan said the CRA had identified more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes.
Among the items were unreported capital gains from private cottage or investment property sales and “money made on real estate flipping.”
“I think the real property community, the real-estate agents and lawyers involved, have gotten the message,” said Gallivan: “We were starting to move a little bit higher in the food chain, away from flips and individual real-estate agents, maybe to the broker or developer level.”
“We’ve also been trying to get up to the influencers because really what we’re trying to do is send a message that the Canada Revenue Agency will continue, and the government will continue, to devote the resources to non-compliance in the real estate sector,” said Gallivan.
The federal cabinet budgeted $50 million over five years for a “real-estate task force.”
