July 1, 2017 is not only Canada's 150th birthday
and a cause for great celebration, which we are eagerly looking
forward to. It is also the date that Canadian financial
institutions must have in place appropriate procedures to provide
information to Canada Revenue Agency on financial accounts held by
non-residents of Canada, which will begin in 2018.
Those of us who have recently had the occasion to open an
account with a financial institution are well-acquainted with the
stack of paperwork and identity and other information now required.
All part of the larger global agenda they say to combat tax
evasion.
Such is also the stated purpose of the Common Reporting Standard
(CRS) - to fight tax evasion by creating a common information
standard for the automatic exchange of tax and financial
information which was developed by the Organization for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2014. Prior to CRS's
implementation, information was exchanged not
