The federal government is proposing a new bounty program aimed at international tax cheats, among a number of measures designed to thwart international tax evasion.

In Thursday’s budget, the government announced several measures designed to improve tax compliance, including a plan for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) to start a new program in which it will pay rewards to individuals who blow the whistle on significant international tax avoidance schemes.

The budget indicates that the CRA will pay up to 15% of the federal tax collected (not including penalties, interest, or provincial tax) in cases where the information leads to at least $100,000 in tax assessments. The payments will be made only after the taxes have been collected, in cases that have an offshore feature (involving foreign property, property located or transferred outside Canada or transactions conducted at least partially outside Canada). The bounties themselves will be taxable.

It’s also proposing to make financial firms report international electronic funds transfers of at least $10,000 to the CRA, in addition to the existing reporting that’s required to the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) under anti-money laundering rules. That reporting obligation will begin in 2015 and the CRA will receive $15 million over five years to fund the initiative.

Additionally, the budget proposes to streamline the process for obtaining a court order requiring a third party to provide information to verify tax compliance.

It also is proposing to eliminate International Banking Centre (IBC) rules, which exempt certain financial institutions from tax on income earned from non-residents through designated branches in Montreal and Vancouver. That measure was introduced in 1987 to attract to Canada banking activity that is normally conducted abroad.

In Thursday’s budget, the government notes that the original policy rationale no longer applies “because of changes to the structures of financial institutions and the nature of their activities since the rules were introduced.” And, it notes, there has been virtually no use of the provision in recent years.

As a result, the government is proposing to eliminate the rules to help simplify the tax system and make it more neutral across business sectors and regions.