The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) offshore compliance advisory committee (OCAC) welcomed two new members to the committee at a meeting in Ottawa on Friday.

Brigitte Alepin is renowned Canadian tax practitioner and professor of tax at the Université du Québec à Montréal; Arthur Cockfield is a law professor at Queen’s University and respected tax law scholar and policy consultant.

During the meeting, CRA officials provided OCAC members with background information and progress that has been made to date on the offshore and aggressive tax planning, international and large business, and criminal investigations programs.

Discussions were held to define a strategic agenda for the committee that would enable it to focus its expertise on the topics where the CRA would most benefit from its advice and recommendations with a view to future program improvements.

The OCAC was created in 2016 with the mandate to advise the Minister of National Revenue and the CRA on strategies to combat offshore tax evasion and aggressive tax planning.