Voluntary Disclosure


Reporting your taxes properly is often a complicated process and mistakes can happen. You may have inadvertently forgotten to report income from a small side business or online business. You may not have properly or fully disclosed part of your business operations in a foreign jurisdiction. You may not have reported income from foreign investments.

However it happened, once you realize that certain income was not properly reported, there is an option and process to correct matters and relieve the possible risk and stress you might be facing from your situation. You may be able to access the Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP); a program that provides taxpayers a method to report otherwise previously undisclosed income and to avoid punitive consequences.

Though the process of the VDP is intended to be an simple one, it is in fact often quite complex and professional support is highly recommended.

In order to access the provisions of the VDP the following requirements must be satisfied:

  • The disclosure must be preemptory and voluntary. You will not be able to access the VDP after you have been contacted by the CRA or have discovered that they will be contacting you about your tax filings;
  • The disclosure must be full and complete and must cover a period of more than one year. You cannot decide to disclose your rental income from a holiday home located in Dominicana, but conceal your bank account in Switzerland;
  • You will expected to pay all taxes and interest owed.

Not every taxpayer applying for VDP will receive the same treatment from the CRA. The CRA will distinguish between taxpayers who simply forgot to disclose information about their income from those that intentionally failed to disclose or intentionally misrepresented income.

Often, the VDP process can be completed in one year. Its success and the extent of its success will significantly depend upon open and forthright discussions and skillful negotiations with the CRA. Moreover, in order to avail yourself of the VDP, the application must be filed as soon as possible once you discover the relevant facts. Contact us without delay and maximize your chances of success.

Contact us in confidence and with the protection of solicitor client privilege to discuss your or your client's personal situation and let us start to help you.