Canada’s Moves on Tax Avoidance Trigger Big-Business Worries

Multinationals face a plethora of new reporting mandates and costs, with less chance of winning courtroom battles, as Canada boosts its legal arsenal to fight tax avoidance, tax practitioners say.

The country’s Department of Finance is tightening more than a dozen anti-avoidance laws, expanding the amount of information companies must report, and putting more and more resources into tax collection. The upshot will be a dramatically changed tax landscape, significantly more favorable to the government, the practitioners say.

“In terms of how far reaching it is and how many proposals are outstanding, it’s unheard of,” Frank Mathieu, partner and head ...