What constitutes an enforcement action under the voluntary disclosure programme (VD).

The Federal Court of Canada released a judicial review application which provides some guidance on the question of what constitutes an enforcement action under the voluntary disclosure programme (VD). In the case of Livaditis v. Canada Revenue Agency, 2010 FC 950 a corporation of which the taxpayer was an shareholder and an officer was contacted by CRA which requested information about unknown taxpayers (called an unnamed person requirement (UPR)). After the corporation was contacted the taxpayer made a personal tax amnesty application, that was rejected by CRA on the basis that the contact with the corporation constituted an enforcement action. The Court concluded that the information submitted by the taxpayer in his VDP would have been discovered by CRA as a result of it's request to the corporation. As a result CRA was justified in rejected the VD application.