MNI BRIEF: Canada Boosting Online Tax Enforcement

Canada is advancing new ways to enforce tax collection from online sales that an auditor found is costing hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue a year, officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

The heads of the federal tax agency, border service and finance department told a committee hearing that the rapid rise of digital commerce has made it harder to track and collect taxes. The tax agency as soon as next month will roll out guidelines outlining tougher scrutiny for transactions with online retailers, courier shipments and business platforms that link buyers and sellers.

Officials also said some of their efforts are limited because they lack legislative powers in some areas, a comment coming as the government has pledged to make online giants pay their fair share of taxes.