Question Period Note: Dental Care - Measures undertaken to prevent fraudulent applications for interim Canada Dental Benefit payments

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• This legislation will provide the Government with a number of tools to prevent fraudulent applications for payment under the interim Canada Dental Benefit and to take action when fraud or other criminal offenses related to the benefit occur.
• Applicants’ income eligibility, presence of children and their age will be verified at the time an application is made, through CRA’s existing information systems, before a payment is made.
• Applicants will be made aware that they will need to be able to demonstrate that they met the remaining eligibility conditions. This includes demonstrating that they had out of pocket costs, which they used the benefit to pay for, as intended (for example, by showing their receipts).
• In addition, the Canada Revenue Agency continues to enhance the security of its digital services to protect Canadians from fraudulent activity. These include using security features such as multi-factor authentication and making email addresses mandatory for those who use Canada Revenue Agency’s My Account.

The Canada Revenue Agency will utilize multi-factor authentication to verify applicants’ eligibility and has a range of tools at its disposal to conduct compliance and enforcement activities.

The Canada Revenue Agency will verify information in its existing tax and Canada Child Benefit systems (like income, age of children and the applicant’s relationship to the child/ children), and when applying, an eligible parent will also be asked to provide information on the following to help confirm eligibility:
– provide contact information for the dental professional who did or will provide the dental services,
– provide contact information for their employer, if they have one, for purposes of verifying access to an employer dental care plan; and
– provide any other information requested to verify their eligibility.

In addition, after the fact verification and audit processes will be used, according to CRA’s standard practices and using the powers set out in the Bill. Where concerns are identified, funding could be recovered although this would be particularly difficult – based on past CRA experience – to do in the lower income groups.

For particularly serious offenses, the bill also defines criminal offenses in relation to benefits provided for under the Act, such as using false identity information, as well as punishment for offenses, including fines and possible imprisonment. It states that a person commits a violation if they:
– give false or misleading information on their application; or
– apply for, and receive, a dental benefit for which they are not eligible.

Furthermore, the bill states that if the Minister of Health, or the Minister of National Revenue, as delegated by the Minister of Health, is of the opinion that a person has committed a violation, the Minister may impose a penalty:
– up to 50% of the benefit that was or would have been paid;
– to a maximum of $5,000;
– within three years of the day on which the violation was committed.

The Minister of Health can also decide that a person is ineligible for future benefits if they have committed a violation or misrepresented their eligibility information, although this remedy would only relate in the period of moving from year one to year two benefits, given there would be no year 3 benefits to deny for those who were found fraudulent in year two. In those cases, other measures described above could still be considered.

• The Government of Canada is undertaking a variety of measures to protect against fraudulent applications for interim Canada Dental Benefit payments.
• The Canada Revenue Agency will utilize multi-factor authentication to verify applicants and has a range of tools at its disposal to conduct compliance and enforcement activities.
• The Canada Revenue Agency will verify most eligibility information upfront drawing on its existing tax and Canada Child Benefit systems (like income, age of children and the applicant’s relationship to the child/ children), and when applying, an eligible parent will also be asked to provide information on the following to help confirm eligibility:
– provide contact information for the dental professional who did or will provide the dental services,
– provide contact information for their employer, if they have one, for purposes of verifying access to an employer dental care plan; and
– provide any other information requested to verify their eligibility.
• In addition, the bill provides considerable scope for post-payment compliance activities to help ensure this funding is spent as intended. Applicants will be aware they will need to be able to demonstrate eligibility – for example by providing receipts showing they had the out of pocket expenses they attested to having, if asked to by CRA.
• The Minister of Health can also decide that a person is ineligible for future benefits if they have committed a violation or misrepresented their eligibility information. However, this remedy would only relate to the period of moving from year one to year two benefits, given there would be no future benefits to deny for those who were found fraudulent in year two. In those cases, other measures described above could still be considered.