Canada Revenue Agency has signed a one-year contract with CGI Group for a high-tech system to track down tax cheaters.

CGI will provide professional services, software and support to CRA's collections directorate in its efforts to identify and catch individuals and corporations who have failed to pay their GST, payroll taxes or income tax.

The contract also contains four one-year options to renew.

"We are excited about providing our client with a powerful tool that will enhance their ability to make decisions based on accurate information. We are able to do so by merging our tax and revenue management expertise with our business intelligence unit along with predictive analytics software," says Hicham Adra, senior vice-president and general manager of CGI's Ottawa office.

The multi-faceted project is aimed at making CRA's collections process more efficient, by increasing the amount of unpaid tax the agency is ultimately able to collect.

CGI will use predictive analytics software from SPSS Inc. to identify tax cheaters, and then to single out which ones are most likely to pay if they are caught, says CGI's Phil Dana, a consulting director with CGI Ottawa.

For example, it makes little sense to pursue someone who is bankrupt in a bid to collect unpaid taxes.

The system will also allow CRA to develop profiles of people who might commit tax fraud and to better target its auditing procedures. Better use of auditing resources and personnel, rather than wasting time on taxpayers who are more likely to comply with the tax code, should lead to greater collections.

It will also permit CRA to better predict when it needs additional staff, such as during the peak tax filing season each spring.

CGI has done similar work for governments in the U.S., Europe and Australia and is credited with recovering more than US$1 billion in uncollected taxes.