Using tax rules that allow such practices as deferring income or expenses to a year later or earlier than actually realized can cause some statistical distortion in the tax reporting of actual business operations in a given year. For example, some businesses will report rent expenses separately from utilities expenses, while others will report one figure for rent and utilities combined. The lack of reporting standards, as well as different accounting practices, can lead to significant data variability. Another limitation of administrative data is that Statistics Canada cannot contact a business for the purpose of clarifying figures reported on a tax form, which limits the ability to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the data. Confidentiality Statistics Canada is very aware of the importance of keeping collected data strictly confidential and is prohibited by law from releasing any information that can identify an individual, a firm or an organization.
All data are subject to confidentiality restrictions prior to release.
For the Profiles, the following rules are used to determine whether data meet confidentiality restrictions. A Profile will not be published if the sample size is less than 5 records. A half or quartile will not be published if there are fewer than 4 sample records falling into the half or quartile. If a half or quartile is suppressed, the corresponding half or quartile is also suppressed. Halves and quartiles data suppressed due to confidentiality will appear as blank in the Profiles.