FINTRAC Disclosures

AKA: Oh, snap! We’re not in compliance!

Hefty Disclosure Alert!

The author of this page is not a lawyer and this should not be considered legal advice.

What’s a Voluntary Self Disclosure of Non-Compliance?

No matter how great your compliance program is, from time to time you might miss something. If the thing that you’ve missed is related to your anti-money laundering or terrorist financing requirements, you can proactively get in touch with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to let them know what’s gone wrong and what you’re doing to fix it. This provides you with an opportunity to explain what’s happening and can help to protect you from negative consequences by demonstrating your commitment to compliance.

We recommend that, before you make a submission, you review FINTRAC’s guidance on voluntary disclosures.

When should we send a voluntary disclosure?

If you have missed the deadlines to file one or more reports with FINTRAC, it’s worth considering a voluntary disclosure:

• Large Cash Transaction Report: 15 Calendar days from the date that the transaction(s) took place;
• Casino Disbursement Report (CDR): 15 Calendar days from the date that the transaction(s) took place;
• Electronic Funds Transfer Report (EFTR): 5 business days from the date that the transaction(s) took place;
• Suspicious or Attempted Suspicious Transaction Report (STR or ASTR): 30 calendar days from the date that you deem the transaction to be suspicious; or
• Terrorist Property Report (TPR): as soon as possible (there is no stated deadline, but this is generally interpreted to mean the same day that you know that you are in possession of terrorist property).

In these cases, you will be filing a report late. Writing a voluntary disclosure letter is a way to let FINTRAC know what’s happened and what you’re doing to fix it.

Before you submit your letter to FINTRAC, make sure that you understand the whole problem. You will need to know when the issue took place, how many reports were missed, how the issue will be resolved and when it will be resolved.

While it can be tempting to try to solve everything as quickly as possible and get it over with, quality is just as important as speed. Make sure that you’re giving yourself enough time to completely solve the problem. Filing another voluntary disclosure for the same issue a week later won’t make you look good.

Is there a model document?

Based on feedback that our clients have received from FINTRAC, Outlier has developed a model voluntary disclosure letter: FINTRAC Disclosure Template.

What will it cost?

If you’re in the process of filing a voluntary disclosure, you’re probably stressed enough. The model document is absolutely free of charge.

If you would like one of our consultants to help you write the letter or scope out the issue, please contact us.

Need more information about reporting?

FINTRAC’s website has a lot of useful tools and guidance. You can find out more about your reporting obligations here.

Return to FINTRAC Resources