{"id":2786,"date":"2020-03-03T15:04:44","date_gmt":"2020-03-03T15:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/cta-cautiously-optimistic-with-cra-clarification-esdc-proactive-enforcement-of-driver-inc\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T16:46:07","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T16:46:07","slug":"cta-cautiously-optimistic-with-cra-clarification-esdc-proactive-enforcement-of-driver-inc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/cta-cautiously-optimistic-with-cra-clarification-esdc-proactive-enforcement-of-driver-inc\/","title":{"rendered":"CTA \u2018Cautiously Optimistic\u2019 with CRA Clarification & ESDC Proactive Enforcement of Driver Inc."},"content":{"rendered":"

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) expressed \u2018cautious optimism\u2019 over clarifying statements from Canada\u2019s National Revenue Minister, Diane Lebouthillier, regarding the Driver Inc. tax scheme<\/a>\u00a0and ESDC\u2019s proactive approach to enforcement for tax and labour violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, ESDC\u2019s enforcement approach to all matters under their jurisdiction has been reactionary and has tended to rely on complaints being filed against companies,\u201d said Jonathan\u00a0Blackham, CTA\u2019s director, Policy. \u201cWith the introduction of ESDC\u2019s new Administrative Monetary Penalty Regime (AMPs) and other compliance tools coming into force, we expect a more proactive and targeted approach to enforcement, with specific emphasis on Driver Inc.<\/p>\n

\u201cCTA applauds ESDC for this targeted enforcement,\u201d added\u00a0Blackham.<\/p>\n

The 2018 federal budget included a provision targeting Driver Inc.\u00a0with former\u00a0Labour Minister, Patty Hajdu, who at that time said the government\u2019s \u201cintent is to create a level playing field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, CTA has confirmed that infractions related to this new provision in the Canada Labour Code will be included as an offence in the AMPs regime, meaning that Driver Inc. carriers will receive monetary penalties for noncompliance and will be publicly listed for these violations. These developments are expected to unfold toward late spring\/summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis commences the kind of federal enforcement needed to eliminate this labour and tax scam from our sector,\u201d said CTA president Stephen Laskowski. \u201cCTA and its member associations will continue to work with provincial workers\u2019 compensation boards and all relevant federal departments regarding the need to ramp up enforcement against Driver Inc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, developments on the tax side of the battle continue to unfold with the federal Minister declaring the requirement of T4As in the trucking sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are heartened to see Minister Lebouthiller begin the first necessary steps to curtail the ongoing tax evasion and other illegal deductions associated with the practice of Driver Inc,\u201d said Laskowski. \u201cWith this development combined with the recent ESDC announcement around targeted enforcement, we are hopeful the Driver Inc. compliance puzzle is closer to being solved.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to CTA earlier this year,\u00a0Minister\u00a0Lebouthillier\u00a0confirmed that T4As are mandatory for Driver Inc. drivers (also known as \u2018incorporated drivers\u2019 or personal services businesses). The Minister went on to state that\u00a0\u201call amounts paid to a personal services business\u00a0must be<\/u>\u00a0reported on a T4A slip. This confirms\u00a0that all amounts paid by one business (e.g. a carrier) to another business (e.g. and incorporated employee\/ Driver Inc. driver) for services rendered (including driving) must be reported on a T4A. Failure to do so would mean a violation of tax laws and associated penalties. Drivers and carriers should consult their tax advisors to learn about the consequences of participating in Driver Inc.<\/p>\n

The Minister reaffirmed that ignorance is no defence for noncompliance and both payers and workers are subject to penalties.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a worker or payer is not sure of the worker\u2019s employment status, either party can request a ruling to have the status evaluated,\u201d said the Minister.\u00a0\u201cAll payers and workers are responsible for knowing their tax obligations and may face penalties and interest if they do not meet these obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Minister\u2019s letter offers a clear warning to Driver Inc. companies and drivers participating in the scheme, said Laskowski. \u201cClearly, the Government of Canada is aware of the situation and the time for compliance is now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other related news, CRA issued a memo this week entitled \u201cAre you incorporated but perform the duties of an employee? Know your tax obligations.\u201d Click here to read the memo: Canada Revenue Agency_public<\/a><\/p>\n

CTA is also reminding carriers to participate in awareness campaign against Driver Inc. To learn more,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) expressed \u2018cautious optimism\u2019 over clarifying statements from Canada\u2019s National Revenue Minister, Diane Lebouthillier, regarding the Driver Inc. tax scheme\u00a0and ESDC\u2019s proactive approach to enforcement for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,28,17],"tags":[71,1194,31,821,32,776,1239,761],"class_list":["post-2786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-admin-tax","category-labour-hr-driver-shortage","category-news-releases","tag-compliance","tag-cra","tag-driver-inc","tag-employee-classification","tag-enforcement","tag-penalties","tag-t4a","tag-tax"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cantruck.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}