Canada Revenue Agency (Re), 2022 OIC 30

Date: 2022-06-20
OIC file number: 5821-03585
Institution file number: A-2020-124534

Summary

The complainant alleged that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had improperly withheld information under subsection 24(1) (disclosure restricted by another law), paragraph 16(1)(c) (conduct of investigations) and subsection 19(1) (personal information) of the Access to Information Act in response to an access request for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) database for all recipient corporations.

In the present instance, the schedule II provision claimed by CRA is section 241 of the Income Tax Act. Section 241 contains a general prohibition of the disclosure of taxpayer information, subject to certain limited exceptions.

The Office of the Information Commissioner is satisfied that the information at issue is about identifiable taxpayers that was prepared from information obtained by CRA for the purposes of administering the Income Tax Act, and the Commissioner concluded that the information was properly withheld pursuant to subsection 24(1).

Since paragraph 16(1)(c) and subsection 19(1) of the Act were applied concurrently to the same information that was exempted pursuant to subsection 24(1), it was not necessary to determine whether refusal to disclose the same information could also be justified under paragraph 16(1)(c) and subsection 19(1).

The complaint is not well founded.

Complaint

[1]      The complainant alleged that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had improperly withheld information under subsection 24(1) (disclosure restricted by another law), paragraph 16(1)(c) (conduct of investigations) and subsection 19(1) (personal information) of the Access to Information Act in response to an access request for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) database for all recipient corporations.

Investigation

[2]      When an institution withholds information under an exemption, it bears the burden of showing that refusing to grant access is justified.

Subsection 24(1): disclosure restricted by another law

[3]      Subsection 24(1) requires institutions to refuse to release information the disclosure of which is restricted by a provision set out in Schedule II of the Act.

Does the information meet the requirements of the exemption?

[4]      The records at issue relate to a list of company names and the total amounts of the CEWS each company received. While the list of company names was released to the complainant, the total amount of the CEWS received, for each company, was withheld.

[5]      In the present instance, the schedule II provision claimed by CRA is section 241 of the Income Tax Act. Section 241 contains a general prohibition of the disclosure of taxpayer information, subject to certain limited exceptions.

[6]      The term taxpayer information is defined at subsection 241(10) of the Income Tax Act as information of any kind and in any form relating to one or more identifiable taxpayers which is obtained by or on behalf of the Minister of National Revenue for the purposes of the Income Tax Act, or prepared from such information.

[7]      The Income Tax Act was amended by Bill C-14 to introduce the CEWS by adding section 125.7. As such, the CEWS is a program administered by the CRA using information obtained by or on behalf of the Minister for the purpose of administering the Income Tax Act.

[8]      During the investigation, CRA provided evidence to demonstrate that the withheld information (total amounts provided to each specific corporation receiving the CEWS) concerned identifiable taxpayers for whom there was no consent to disclose, and was prepared from information obtained by CRA for the purposes of administering the Income Tax Act.

[9]      Consequently, the Office of the Information Commissioner (OIC) concludes that the information meets the requirement of subsection 24(1).

[10]    Paragraph 16(1)(c) and subsection 19(1) of the Act were applied concurrently to the same information that was exempted pursuant to subsection 24(1). Since the OIC is satisfied that the CRA applied subsection 24(1) in accordance with the Act, it is not necessary to determine whether refusal to disclose the same information could also be justified under paragraph 16(1)(c) and subsection 19(1).

Result

[11]    The complaint is not well founded.

Section 41 of the Act provides a right to the complainant who receives this report to apply to the Federal Court for a review. The complainant must apply for this review within 35 business days after the date of this report and must serve a copy of the application for review to the relevant parties, as per section 43.