Appendix A: Glossary

Accounts receivable/debt — amounts claimed by the Province against debtors.

Activities — what a ministry does to fulfill its mission. Activities include the strategies, techniques and types of treatment that comprise a ministry's service lines.

Audit — an examination of an individual's or business' financial records or accounts to ensure that the amounts owed have been collected and remitted, or paid as required.

Billing — the act of notifying an individual or business of an amount owed to the Province.

Canada Revenue Agency set-off program — The Ministry of Provincial Revenue has been participating in the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) set-off program since 1999. The ministry refers overdue accounts to the CRA for potential set-off against income tax, Goods and Services Tax and other federal program refunds. This step is taken when the Province has been unable to contact the customer or when all other collection efforts have failed.

Collections — remedial actions employed by the Province to effect a payment from an individual or business on an overdue account receivable.

Incremental revenue — monies identified primarily by, or remitted in response to, audit and enforcement activities.

Local service areas — an area that is not part of a municipality that has been created to provide a specific service to its residents; for example a fire district or a regional improvement district. The services provided are paid for through a property tax levied on residents of the area.

Outcomes — are the benefits resulting from the ministry's activities and outputs; the results, consequences or changes in conditions, behaviours or attitudes that indicate progress in achieving the ministry's goals and mission.

Outputs — are the direct products of ministry activities.

Overdue — an account receivable for which no monies have been remitted and is considered overdue according to the legislation at issue.

Penalty — a fine imposed for an offence against the legislation at issue (most commonly assessed for non-remittance of taxes).

Recoveries — monies recovered in the course of administering accounts receivable.

Remittance — the payment of monies to meet a financial obligation.

Refund — return of monies remitted in error or in excess of an account receivable.

Revenue — all monies received to meet financial obligations or identified as owed to the Province.

Tax assessments — a written notice from government of an amount owed to the Province. This notice represents monies that should have been remitted or paid to the Province, as well as any penalty or interest charges imposed by the Province.

Tax expenditure — the reduction in tax revenues that results when government programs or benefits are delivered through the tax system rather than reported as budgetary expenditures. Tax expenditures are usually made by offering special tax rates, exemptions or tax credits to program beneficiaries.

Transaction — the act of processing a cheque or scanable coupon for the purpose of applying payment to an account receivable.

Voluntary compliance — when taxpayers meet their financial obligations without requiring the Province to effect payment.