I’ve been writing about detaxers for sometime. You would have thought their nonsense had been exposed long ago, not least because the tax courts have had no trouble dismissing their claims. Apparently not, however. The Canadian Bar Association is actually…
84.1 and employee buycos
I gave a talk today at the Hamilton Law Association on shareholder agreements and tax issues. David Howell asked me a question, on which I drew a blank, relating to employee buycos. Thanks to Shelley Wickenheiser, I was able to…
Rulings Directorate pre-rulings consultation program
From the Toronto Centre Canada Revenue Agency & Professionals Group Newsletter, Vol. 13: Issue 4, December 2014, which you can access through Tax Interpretations here: The Income Tax Rulings Directorate (ITRD) is offering, as a one-year pilot project, a new…
Deemed ownership of shares
I am giving a talk on Tuesday at the Hamilton Law Association on tax issues in shareholder agreements. From my speaking notes: The language of 251(5)(b) and subsection 256(1.4) appear to be very similar, but the CRA has maintained an…
PCs for doctors: a long overdue change
The application and renewal process for certificates of status for the professional corporations (PCs) of doctors and dentists was rather labyrinthine. The College of Physicians and Surgeons recently announced that the process for doctors has been simplified. In an email it sent to subscribers to its corporate mailing list, the College summarized the changes as follows.
The rectification saga
The rectification saga continues. From Timothy Fitzsimmons’ summary of Fairmont Hotels Inc. et al v AG (Canada), 2014 ONSC 7302: Fairmont relied on the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in Juliar for the principle that the exact method to achieve…
Tax preparation and police checks
The CRA runs a volunteer tax preparer program, which is a Smart Idea. Beginning in 2016, the CRA will require all volunteer preparers to get police checks, which is a Dumb Idea.
Estate freezes and accounting
KPMG reports that If you’re a business owner and you have carried out an estate freeze to fix the value of your shares in the business so that future growth accrues to the benefit of other family members, you may…
Consent steeplechase
Craig Burley reports on the latest from the CRA about authorizations. Apparently Tax Centres are no longer processing faxed authorization forms. Update December 19, 2014. I spoke to an Appeals officer today who said that I couldn’t fax an authorization…
97(2) Abuse
The CRA says that forming a partnership consisting only of Canadian partners to take advantage of the 97(2) rollover and then immediately afterward adding a non-resident partner is abusive. It would attempt to apply the GAAR. (CTF Roundtable Q6).