St. John's tax employee fired for tampering with dozens of returns

A taxation employee in St. John's was fired for faking details on the returns of more than 100 people for more than a decade, federal government officials have confirmed. 

The Canada Revenue Agency claims that $688,000 "may have been diverted improperly" to the long-term employee, who was fired in December from a post at the regional taxation centre in St. John's, said Roy Jamieson, a spokesman for the agency.

The employee, an unidentified man, worked with settled claims but added expenses — such as child tax benefits, GST credits and moving expenses — before having them reassessed.

"The reality is this activity was virtually invisible — was virtually transparent to any of the taxpayers involved. The changes were such that there was no direct impact on the individual taxpayer's accounts," Jamieson told CBC News.

A subsequent investigation found that the returns, involving 102 individuals, were altered between 1996 and 2007.

The case has been referred to the federal public prosecution service, which will decide whether to lay criminal charges.

'No red flags'

Until earlier this month, when they received letters from CRA, taxpayers involved in the case had no knowledge that their returns had been manipulated, and that someone had received payments based on the reassessments.

Jamieson said the employee fooled the revenue agency because he had knowledge of its systems, how the accounts worked and how they could be manipulated.

"So there was certainly none of the usual red flags that might go up when someone notices perhaps there's some kind of anomaly on their account," he said.

Jamieson said the agency has taken steps to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"These cases are rare, but it doesn't excuse any one of them. Every case like this that comes to our attention is unacceptable."