Revenue Agency says 44 off-shore tax cheats convicted since 2006, won’t say who

OTTAWA – As an international investigation of tax evaders broadens to include Canadian authorities, the federal government says it has convicted just 44 individuals of offshore tax cheating since 2006.

And the total amount of fines levied — $6.8 million — is less than the $7.7 million in taxes that were evaded.

Between April 2006 and March 2012, a total of 44 convicted tax evaders were collectively sentenced to 337 months in jail, an average of about seven months each.

The figures came this week from the Canada Revenue Agency in response to a question in Parliament from Liberal MP Geoff Reagan.

Revenue Minister Gail Shea also announced this week that Ottawa is being given access to Canadian data from an ongoing offshore tax-evasion investigation being conducted by American, Australian and British authorities.

Although the revenue agency publishes the names of people convicted of domestic tax offences, it says that for privacy reasons it cannot identify those convicted of offshore tax evasion.