Reporting suspected tax or benefit cheating in Canada – Overview

1. Overview

If you suspect a business, charity or person of tax or benefit cheating in Canada, report them to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) by submitting a lead to the Leads Program. 

If you suspect your identity has been compromised or has been used without your authorization, please complete the webform in the following Canada.ca link Security of your CRA account - Canada.ca or with our Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system at 1-800-265-2577 or collect at 1-613-221-3176.

How you make a difference

The information you provide in your lead could help the actions the CRA is already taking to fight tax cheating. The CRA uses the information that you provide to make sure that the Canadian tax system is fair and everyone pays their fair share. This ensures greater resources are available for public facilities, such as schools, roads and hospitals, as well as for the delivery of services and programs to Canadians.

How the Leads Program works

You can submit information on tax cheating online, by telephone, by mail or by fax. Once you have submitted the information, the CRA will review the information and take the appropriate action to address the specific type of tax cheating if it is determined that tax cheating has occurred.

Privacy

You will remain anonymous

When you report suspected tax or benefit cheating (by submitting a lead), you will not be asked to disclose personal information about yourself. The protection of personal information is important, and the CRA is committed to protecting your identity. The CRA reviews all the information it receives from the public about suspected tax cheating and makes every effort to ensure taxpayers follow Canada’s tax laws. The CRA has strict protocols in place for handling lead information. The CRA will do all it can to protect your identity along with any information that suggests you submitted a lead, to the fullest extent possible under the law. For this reason, you will not receive feedback or updates after you submit information. This is because the CRA cannot disclose information about other persons.

CRA's use of information and documents

The information you provide is collected under the authority of federal tax and benefit laws, and it is protected under the confidentiality provisions of those laws, as well as by privacy laws that impose strict limits on what the CRA can disclose. The CRA may use the information you provide to make sure taxpayers meet their tax obligations and that claimants are entitled to benefits.

Other ways to report

If your information is related to Canadians cheating abroad, you have to submit this information through the Offshore Tax Informant Program. If you wish to voluntarily correct your tax filings, you should consider the CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program.

More information about the Leads Program can be found on the next few pages.