One of my very first posts on this blog dealt with demands for information about third parties. The saga continues in Canada (National Revenue) v. The Greater Montréal Real Estate Board, 2006 FC 1069, in which the Court vacated its own ex parte order requiring the Board to turn over the information requested by the CRA. The Court founds as follows:
[58] Having read and reread the evidence, in particular the transcript of Ms. Joly’s examination and the circular letter, the Court is no longer satisfied that the Minister has established on a preponderance of the evidence that he is conducting a genuine and serious inquiry into the group identified in the requirement to provide information and in the authorization dated June 28, 2005. The Minister has not established that, at this stage of the project, the request for information is intended to determine whether each and every one of the Board members (real estate agents and brokers) has complied with the Act by reporting all of their income (paragraph 231.2(3)(b)).
[59] Clearly, this finding will not prevent the Minister from obtaining this information if it is necessary. In fact, the Minister may readily apply for a new authorization supported this time by more ample evidence in which he will explain that a genuine audit is under way in regard to each and every one of the members of this group and not only an investigation or project aimed at selecting the members of the group who are to be audited later.
