Tax cheats walked off with $220 million last year

Tax cheats bilked the federal government of almost $220 million in the last fiscal year, and the Canada Revenue Agency has so far recovered only $2.2 million – or about one per cent of it.

The CRA expects to recover a further $9.2 million of the $219.7 million it is owed from the 553 tax-cheat cases it has on the books, and admits it won’t recover $15.9 million.

In government spending documents released Wednesday, the agency makes no statement about the fate of the remaining amount of bilked money, about $195 million.

The figures are contained in the newly released Public Accounts. That federal document is an annual record of government spending.

The document shows there were 35 cases of fraudulent Canada Pension Plan claims, 75 such cases involving federal student loans, 16 for fraudulent Old Age Security claims and 87,613 cases for false Employment Insurance benefits in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Departments and agencies saw millions more lost or stolen through such things as: the disappearance of 157 laptops; 186 mobile devices such as BlackBerrys and cellphones; two cars; a bale of hay and even a portable lectern the House of Commons provides politicians.

Parks Canada suffered a $31.8-million loss as a result of damage to parks and infrastructure from the June 2013 Alberta floods.

Those losses, combined with the tax cheats and lost customs payments, meant the federal government took a $283.8 million hit in the last fiscal year.

Missing: Some of the stranger items stolen from the government:
$100: Cost of a stolen “recognition award” at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development

$2,700: Value of a stolen bale of hay from Agriculture and Agri-Food

7,425: Weapons and accessories the military lost in 2013-14

$257: Cost of a car battery stolen from Public Works and Government Services Canada

123: Number of times government vehicles were in car accidents in 2013-14

$120: Cash stolen from the House of Commons

$116,231: Cost for theft of evidence from the RCMP

$18: Cost of a calculator stolen from Shared Services Canada

Forgeries and misdirected deposits from the Receiver General
2,961: Forged endorsements on government cheques in 2013-14

$2,065,002: Amount those forgeries cost the federal government

7,174: Cases where the government sent a direct deposit to the wrong account

$3,420,463: Amount those mistakes cost the government

$984,765: Amount the government won’t recover from those mistakes

Original Article
Source: canada.com/
Author:  BY JORDAN PRESS