Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Comité permanent des comptes publics

For immediate release

Ottawa, March 25, 2021 -

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) could not take the actions necessary to ensure that the sales tax system for e-commerce was neutral and that the tax base of the goods and services and harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) was protected. For its part, Finance Canada conducted sound analyses related to e-commerce. These are the conclusions of a report of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts (the Committee) presented today by Kelly Block, Chair of the Committee.

In the spring of 2019, the Office of the Auditor General of Canada (OAG) released a performance audit. Its purpose was to determine whether, according to their respective roles and responsibilities, CRA, CBSA and Finance Canada ensured that the sales tax system for e-commerce was neutral (treated all vendors equally regarding the GST/HST) and that the GST/HST tax base (everything that is taxable) was protected.

The audit found that CRA was limited by its legislative authority and conducted a limited amount of compliance activities. CBSA poorly managed the data for the Courier Low Value Shipment Program and could not ensure that the amount of provincial sales taxes and the provincial portion of the HST were accurate.

As part of its report on this audit, the Committee made two recommendations to CRA and to CBSA to ensure that the sales tax system was neutral and that the GST/HST tax base was protected.