Canada Revenue Agency cashes in on $600 million in offshore income

There's a lot of Canadian money hidden around the world and Ottawa is finally getting its hands on it.

The Globe and Mail reports that Canada Revenue Agency has already unearthed six times more offshore income this year compared to last -- that's $600-million.

The newspaper says the credit goes to international whistleblowers and the agency's willingness to piggyback on a beefed-up campaign in the United States.

The CRA says it has already received 3,600 voluntary disclosures detailing offshore holdings under an amnesty program that allows taxpayers to report hidden wealth to avoid prosecution.

In the previous fiscal year, there were about 1,900 such disclosures, revealing less than $100-million.

Toronto tax lawyer Robert Kepes says the government has been doing a good job of scaring people and people want to be able to sleep at night.

There are still about 800 disclosures the CRA needs to sift through before the final tally can be calculated.

The U.S. Department of Justice also contributed to Canada's haul when it investigated Swiss financial giant UBS.

It found Swiss-based bankers, who are not licensed to conduct business in the United States, were travelling to large American cities and helping wealthy clients store billions of dollars in ``undeclared'' accounts.

To avoid prosecution, UBS signed an agreement to hand over the names of thousands of clients, but a recent Swiss court decision is holding up the exchange of that information.

The CRA says it is in ongoing discussions with UBS for access to the names of its Canadian clients with Swiss accounts -- a group that is estimated to collectively hold at least $5.6-billion in Swiss vaults.