CRA Bandits target Waitresses & Waiters

[wildernessvoice]

Guess those tips add up.
However, more than the news article was a comment that caught my attention. Anybody know who owns Canada Revenue.


"educate-yourself
educate-yourself • 1 day 2 hours ago

Tips ARE NOT INCOME. CRA is a private - for - profit Corporation. INCOME IS DESCRIBED AS PROFIT, a wage is a bartered offer for hours served, nothing to do with income at all. News stories like this ( Typical yahoo- whats new?) only further the propaganda that the CRA is a legitimate Government Office, THEY ARE NOT The only thing Canadian about them is the word "CANADA" in their title, PERIOD "

By Dean Beeby, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - A blitz by Canada Revenue Agency auditors on an unfortunate group of waiters and waitresses in one Ontario community has exposed "very surprising" amounts of unreported tips and gratuities.

The pilot project targeted 145 servers working in just four restaurants in St. Catharines, Ont., a blue-collar city on the Niagara Peninsula, south of Toronto.

Auditors reviewed two years' worth of income and found that every individual had hidden some portion of their tips from the taxman, with about half reporting no tips whatsoever.

In the end, the blitz flushed out $1.7 million in unreported tips and gratuities — almost $12,000 for each person.

"Industry insiders often tell servers that they only need to report 10 per cent of their ... wages as tip income," says an internal report on the project.

"Our results indicate that tips are more likely to be 100 per cent to 200 per cent of ... wages. In essence, they are only reporting five per cent to 10 per cent of earned tips/gratuities."

The auditors conclude: "The amount of unreported income was very surprising."

The Canadian Press obtained a heavily censored copy of the 2010 report under the Access to Information Act, after an 18-month delay by the Canada Revenue Agency that violated legislated deadlines.

The study does not identify the restaurants or waiting staff that were subject to the special audits.

The St. Catharines' blitz was among dozens of pilot projects across the country that targeted the underground economy, estimated to be worth as much as $36 billion in 2008, according to a Statistics Canada study prepared for the revenue agency.

[Julian]

They need to make sure they wring every last cent our of the private sector. Somebody has to replace the 6 BILLION DOLLAR GIVE AWAY the government is handing to civil service on a gold platter!!!

[RedDog]

The mother of my step daughter was bringing home some $60K a year from a cocktail lounge in the oil patch a decade ago when on paper she was showing $12K a year and couldn't get a Sears card. At that time the government allowed a 10% claim on tips. She normally didn't carry a purse to work so would give me her cash to carry home when I picked her up, usually $150.-$200./night.

I recall one Christmas eve afternoon before an early close a regular coming in for a beer on the way home and tipping her $100. on a $3. beer with "Merry Christmas (name)" on the Visa slip. You look after somebody all year, get them in a cab, etc. and the good ones look after you.

[wildernessvoice]

The mother of my step daughter was bringing home some $60K a year from a cocktail lounge in the oil patch a decade ago when on paper she was showing $12K a year and couldn't get a Sears card. At that time the government allowed a 10% claim on tips. She normally didn't carry a purse to work so would give me her cash to carry home when I picked her up, usually $150.-$200./night.

I recall one Christmas eve afternoon before an early close a regular coming in for a beer on the way home and tipping her $100. on a $3. beer with "Merry Christmas (name)" on the Visa slip. You look after somebody all year, get them in a cab, etc. and the good ones look after you.

I guess a waiter or waitress could argue that $100.00 is not EARNED INCOME. A waitress received a gift of $100.00 as a Christmas gift.
..but, Harper just gave Afganistan another multi-BILLION dollar gift. The waiters and waitress should have to pay it!

CRA- Honesty!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/pol ... le4346722/

The document says that in 2001, a CRA auditor named Nick Iammarrone started examining the books of a numbered company belonging to accountant Jacky Schryver.

The next year, the warrant said, Mr. Schryver received a visit from someone called “George” who took him into his firm’s parking lot. “George” told Mr. Schryver that he was facing a $10-million tax bill, which he could make disappear in exchange for $1-million.

“We fix things,” the search warrant obtained by Montreal’s La Presse and The Globe and Mail alleges that “George” told Mr. Schryver.

Mr. Schryver refused the deal, saying he could not believe that the assessment from the audit would come in at $10-million.

Still, in 2003, Mr. Schryver was invited to meet with two accountants who asked for $300,000 in cash to annul his eventual assessment. One of the people at the meeting was Raymond Lalonde, a former high-ranking official in the Montreal offices of the Canada Revenue Agency, according to the RCMP document. The warrant did not indicate where Mr. Lalonde is now.

No deal was struck, and about a month later, Mr. Schryver received a $10-million assessment, which he tried to fight in court. During the process, he complained to the CRA’s internal affairs about the alleged squeeze play.

[RedDog]

Yes, and the client wasn't stupid. He wrote Merry Christmas on the slip but left a $100. bill. No paper trail. He also knew she was a single parent and in a job environment with few benefits. To this day my step daughter has perfect teeth for example, played sports, took dance and such that were never a burden on taxpayers when on paper that household would have qualified for all manner of support all over the place. Some things slightly under the radar should just be left alone.