I always hesitate to take a client’s money for a relief or fairness application because the CRA is usually pretty unsympathetic and the courts not much more helpful. In two relatively recent cases, the courts found that the CRA decision-making process in response to relief applications had been flawed, but the courts refused to provide a different result or order the Minister to reconsider the matter.
In Stemijon Investments Ltd v Canada (Attorney General), 2011 FCA 299, the Court held that the CRA had improperly fettered its own discretion by interpreting the meaning of fairness only in light of its own Information Circular. The Court, however, held that no other result than the one reached by the CRA (no relief) was possible on the facts of the case.
In Sherry v. Canada (National Revenue), 2011 FC 1208, the Court held that the CRA did not give adequate reasons for its decision, but it received an affidavit prepared for the judicial review that it accepted as providing valid reasons. The Court also held that the CRA was not obliged to provide the relief applicant with an opportunity to comment on its conclusions before rendering a decision.
Is it any wonder that the relief application process is a long and winding road (that is paved with the taxpayer’s gold).
