We will start consultations with tax, customs, and trade communities on the voluntary disclosures policy to clarify the rules and to explore ways that it can be further encouraged and promoted. Once finalized, we will publicly announce the new policy. Since 1991, the fairness provisions have given us greater flexibility to cancel or waive penalties and interest. As an example, we can grant interest relief to a client who missed a payment due date as a result of a serious illness. We have a number of publications that explain these provisions.
Guidelines are in place and measures exist to promote consistency in our decisions on fairness.
We will transfer authority for the fairness provisions to the Appeals Branch. This will reinforce our commitment to impartiality, consistency, and openness in applying the provisions. We will continue to handle requests for fairness relief at all service points across Canada, including tax services offices, tax centres, customs border sites, and trade offices. This is important because Canadians have told us that they want fairness as a core value for all employees throughout the Department. We will provide improved guidelines and enhanced informatics support to staff to promote the consistency of fairness decisions.