Media reports say the Canada Revenue Agency's long-dormant court action against accounting firm KPMG, which appeared to have been resurrected last September after exposed delays were exposed in the case, won't go to court anytime soon
A judge first ordered KPMG in February 2013 to hand over to the CRA the names of all the multimillionaire Canadians caught using an offshore tax dodge set up by the accounting firm in the Isle of Man, a scheme the agency alleges was a "sham" and "intended to deceive" the treasury.
KPMG fought that order for years — in and out of court — and now Federal Court documents show that the much-anticipated next court date is at least nine more months away. That means KPMG's appeal will finally be heard almost four years after the judge first authorized the CRA's request to get the names of the wealthy Canadians.
The new court date means KPMG will square off against the CRA in a Toronto courtroom next January 24. If the case goes ahead, as court documents now state, lawyers for the Big Four accounting firm will argue that the CRA has no right to see its client list.
The court records show a series of affidavits and examinations scheduled into the spring and summer before the planned hearing gets underway in 2017 — 16 months after the CRA decided to resurrect the case in September 2015.
A CRA document leaked to the media revealed that the tax agency inexplicably offered amnesty to 15 of the unnamed KPMG clients, in a deal where they paid the taxes owed plus some modest interest and avoided any penalties or prosecution. However, the CRA ordered them to keep kept quiet about it.
It was only because six remaining clients refused to accept the amnesty offer that there is any court case left to pursue.
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