1. April 11, 2016 – CRA issued a News Release identifying steps they will take to crack down on tax evasion, with an expectation to return $2.6 billion in revenue to the Crown over five years. It was noted that:

• CRA will now have the ability to more fully examine potential tax evasion across an entire jurisdiction. The first to be examined was the Isle of Man (CRA has assessed the risk for all 3,000 electronic funds transfers involving approximately 800 taxpayers, valued at a total of $860 million in a 12-month period), with examinations of other jurisdictions and financial institutions following this year, including a second project beginning May 2016.
• CRA will create a special program dedicated to stopping organizations that create and promote tax schemes for the wealthy which will result in a twelve-fold increase in the number of schemes investigated by CRA.
• CRA will hire more auditors and specialists, increasing the number of examinations on high-risk taxpayers from 600 to 3,000 annually.
• ​CRA will bring in 100 additional auditors to investigate high-risk multinational corporations.

Much of the above actions will be funded by the proposal in the 2016 Federal Budget to invest over $444 million in CRA to combat tax evasion.

resubmitting rejected EFILED returns

2. April 6, 2016 – An EFILE update reminded electronic filers that a large number of electronically submitted tax returns that were initially rejected are never resubmitted. To assist tracking transmissions, CRA will generate a list of returns that will need to be retransmitted. The first list will be sent out in April and the second list in June.
    
3. April 6, 2016 – CRA released a Tax Tip highlighting what to do if taxpayers have uncashed cheques. They note that Government of Canada cheques never expire and can be cashed at any time, cheques for deceased taxpayers should be deposited into the Estate or returned to CRA, and, CRA can issue replacement cheques if the original was lost, destroyed, stolen or missing.
    
4. March 30, 2016 – An EFILE update reminded electronic filers that they can now submit requested T183 Forms to CRA using the Submit documents option in Represent a Client.
    
5. March 23, 2016 – CRA released a Tax Tip reminding taxpayers of the option to correct earlier tax mistakes through the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP). Penalties and potential prosecution may be waived under the VDP, while the taxpayer is only required to pay outstanding taxes and interest. Access to the VDP is quite broad – individuals, businesses, employers, payers, Trusts, and Estates, whether a resident or non-resident of Canada, can all use the program.
    
6. March 18, 2016 – CRA announced the prescribed interest rates for the second quarter of 2016 (April 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016) will remain at 1% for taxable benefits and corporate refunds, 3% for other refunds, and 5% for arrears and instalment interest.

 these Releases

7. See Appendix A for a listing of some newly released Guides and Forms.