Russ was appointed Senior Vice President, Tax and Finance by the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance in 1998 when he retired from Industry Canada after 25 years working with the business community to improve Canadian regulation. At Industry Canada, he was a Special Advisor reporting to the Director General, Corporate Governance. He was responsible for developing processes such as the Business Impact Test to help business show government where regulatory costs can be reduced and the advantages of doing so. He led the consultations of the Department of Finance, Industry Canada, and Revenue Canada (now the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency) which produced major refinements to the legislation for the SR&ED tax credit program in 1992.
Previously, Russ was Senior Science Advisor at Revenue Canada from 1985 to 1991. During this period, he managed the scientific aspects of the SR&ED tax credit program for Revenue Canada. He personally conducted the consultations with the private sector that established the interpretive and administrative policy and practices for this program, including the development of the original Information Circular IC 86-4 and the application papers. He is an expert in the interpretive policies and practices of the program, and a leader in identifying best practices for developing and supporting the SR&ED tax credit claims.
His appointment as Senior Vice President, Tax and Finance of the CATAAlliance reflects the importance that the Alliance and the community place on finding ways to improve the functioning of the SR&ED tax credits. In this capacity, he has been leading the coalition of businesses and associations which documented the problems that existed in the program's administration and which obtained the commitment of the Minister of National Revenue to an action plan for their correction.
Most recently, he has led the development of consensus between the Canadian computer science/ information technology business community and the CCRA on interpretive policies for the credits in this sector and the best practices for companies to follow to support their claims. This effort has led to the issuance of new Guidance for the sector that carries the full support of CCRA. This Guidance is the basis for jointly training the CCRA's software specialists and the community in how the credits should work in the sector.
His interest and expertise in regulatory reform is assisting the CATAAlliance in expanding the focus of their advocacy program to obtaining regulation and tax measures that work from both a policy and a business perspective.
Prior to his work on the SR&ED tax credit program, Russ was a scientist with the National Research Council of Canada. There, he led multi-disciplinary teams of government experts and stakeholders in the assessment of the environmental and health hazards of industrial organic chemicals, including pesticides. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, and his undergraduate work was in chemistry and mathematics.
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