Beautiful Virgin Islands

Tuesday, Jun 03, 2025

KPMG clients dodged taxes for years after CRA detected offshore 'sham'

KPMG clients dodged taxes for years after CRA detected offshore 'sham'

After amassing a fortune selling scrap metal in South Africa, Peter Cooper immigrated to Canada in the mid-1990s with his sons Marshall and Richard and their families.

They settled in Victoria, purchased luxurious homes and became permanent residents — qualifying for Canadian health care and other social services.

But that also meant they would eventually have to start paying tax on their investment income from $25 million in offshore accounts.

Instead, in December 2001, Peter and his sons signed up for a massive offshore tax dodge designed and run by the Canadian accounting firm KPMG and paid virtually no income tax for more than a decade, according to documents filed in the Federal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada.

Unreported documents obtained by the CBC’s The Fifth Estate and Radio-Canada’s Enquête show that even after it was discovered they were using KPMG’s offshore tax dodge, Peter Cooper and his sons continued using the scheme, which Canada Revenue Agency auditors had called a “sham” that involved “deception.”

The KPMG scheme involved setting up shell companies for Canadian multimillionaires and billionaires in the Isle of Man, a British crown dependency in the Irish Sea. A client would purport to give away their wealth to one of the shell companies and then get back regular tax-free “gifts” from income earned when the money was invested abroad.

Through their lawyer, the Cooper family declined to comment.

In 2015, Marshall Cooper said KPMG approached his family to sign up for the tax dodge, and that questions should be directed towards the accounting firm.

The scheme involved at least 25 well-heeled Canadians.

The Coopers are “just the tip of the iceberg,” said Dennis Howlett, the former head of Canadians for Tax Fairness, a group that advocates against offshore tax secrecy.

The House of Commons finance committee rebooted a long-dormant probe into Isle of Man shell companies last month after CBC/Radio-Canada reported on suspicious money transfers unrelated to the Coopers.

During hearings into the KPMG Isle of Man companies back in 2016, the Liberal chair of the finance committee abruptly blocked testimony — before MPs were able to know how much money the government might have lost in revenue or the names of all the KPMG clients behind those shell companies.

Lifestyle ‘not supported by the income he reported’


In the case of Peter Cooper, who died in 2016, documents filed in Federal Court and Tax Court state he had access to a fortune of more than $25 million offshore and owned a $4-million mansion across the street from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club.

Yet the CRA says in court filings that he paid little or no income tax between 1999 and 2010.

In 2001, Cooper received a $250 cheque from a federal government program to help low-income Canadians with home heating costs. The documents state that every year from 1999 to 2010, both he and his wife claimed and received GST rebate payments — a tax credit for individuals and families with low or modest incomes.

His sons also benefited from government tax credits, court records show. Richard Cooper claimed a $9,000 home renovation tax credit in 2009 and Marshall Cooper paid $3,049 in total income taxes between 2002 and 2011, while receiving tax credits worth $5,420 over the same period.

At the same time, the Coopers were secretly receiving what added up to millions of dollars in what KPMG had called tax free “gifts” from their offshore investments from their family fortune.

At some point, the CRA observed that Peter Cooper’s “lifestyle was not supported by the income he reported,” the agency says in its court filings.

Deception ‘part of the plan’


It all seemed to come to an abrupt end for KPMG and the Coopers when CRA auditors discovered the confidential Isle of Man scheme in 2010.

In 2012, aside from having to pay back taxes and interest, the Coopers were assessed nearly $4 million in penalties for what the CRA termed “gross negligence.” The agency stated the KPMG scheme was a “sham” and that “deception was part of the plan” to not declare income in Canada and instead label the money as tax-free gifts.

But despite the CRA unearthing the KPMG offshore scheme, the Cooper family continued to use it for several years without tax officials realizing, the documents filed in Federal Court show.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Dutch government falls as far-right leader Wilders quits coalition
Harvard Urges US to Unfreeze Funds for Public Health Research
Businessman Mauled by Lion at Luxury Namibian Lodge
Researchers Consider New Destinations Beyond the U.S.
53-Year-Old Doctor Claims Biological Age of 23
Trump Struggles to Secure Trade Deals With China and Europe
Russia to Return 6,000 Corpses Under Ukraine Prisoner Swap Deal
Microsoft Lays Off Hundreds More Amid Restructuring
Harvey Weinstein’s Publicist Embraces Notoriety
Macron and Meloni Seek Unity Despite Tensions
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Newark Mayor Sues Over Arrest at Immigration Facility
Center-Left Candidate Projected to Win South Korean Presidency
Trump’s Tariffs Predicted to Stall Global Economic Growth
South Korea’s President-Elect Expected to Take Softer Line on Trump and North Korea
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Ukraine Executes Long-Range Drone Strikes on Russian Airbases
Conservative Karol Nawrocki wins Poland’s presidential election
Study Identifies Potential Radicalization Risk Among Over One Million Muslims in Germany
Good news: Annalena Baerbock Elected President of the UN General Assembly
Apple Appeals EU Law Over User Data Sharing Requirements
South Africa: "First Black Bank" Collapses after Being Looted by Owners
Poland will now withdraw from the EU migration pact after pro-Trump nationalist wins Election
"That's Disgusting, Don’t Say It Again": The Trump Joke That Made the President Boil
Trump Cancels NASA Nominee Over Democratic Donations
Paris Saint-Germain's Greatest Triumph Is Football’s Lowest Point
OnlyFans for Sale: From Lockdown Lifeline to Eight-Billion-Dollar Empire
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Hegseth Warns of Potential Chinese Military Action Against Taiwan
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Jamie Dimon Warns U.S. Bond Market Faces Pressure from Rising Debt
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Taylor Swift Gains Ownership of Her First Six Albums
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Satirical Sketch Sparks Political Spouse Feud in South Korea
Indonesia Quarry Collapse Leaves Multiple Dead and Missing
South Korean Election Video Pulled Amid Misogyny Outcry
Asian Economies Shift Away from US Dollar Amid Trade Tensions
Netflix Investigates Allegations of On-Set Mistreatment in K-Drama Production
US Defence Chief Reaffirms Strong Ties with Singapore Amid Regional Tensions
Vietnam Faces Strategic Dilemma Over China's Mekong River Projects
Malaysia's First AI Preacher Sparks Debate on Islamic Principles
White House Press Secretary Criticizes Harvard Funding, Advocates for Vocational Training
France to Implement Nationwide Smoking Ban in Outdoor Spaces Frequented by Children
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
Russia's Fossil Fuel Revenues Approach €900 Billion Since Ukraine Invasion
U.S. Justice Department Reduces American Bar Association's Role in Judicial Nominations
U.S. Department of Energy Unveils 'Doudna' Supercomputer to Advance AI Research
U.S. SEC Dismisses Lawsuit Against Binance Amid Regulatory Shift
Alcohol Industry Faces Increased Scrutiny Amid Health Concerns
×