Joe Monaco and I spend a good deal of time handling cases before the Tax Court of Canada because sometimes the CRA just will not listen to reason. Before filing an appeal, however, the client should understand something about the process. To that end, the following table provides a simplified outline of a General Procedure income tax appeal.
Amendments to the CA Act
Our readers who are CAs will be aware that Ontario has amended the Chartered Accountants Act, 1956 to permit professional corporations to be partners in limited liability partnerships. The amendments are effective May 18, 2006. The Chartered Accountants of Ontario…
Some Notes on CDA
Calculating CDA
Canada’s income tax system aspires to “neutrality” so that, in theory, an individual should be indifferent about whether he earns income directly or through a corporation. The CDA is one of the mechanisms employed to achieve this neutrality.
Food stamps for clients
A real estate agent provides vouchers for food and entertainment to his clients. The agent does not control how the clients use the vouchers, and he does not consume the food or attend the entertainments provided by the vouchers. Can…
The Charter and the Tax Court
Subsection 171(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the Act) sets out the jurisdiction of the Tax Court in income tax appeals. In general, the subsection does not permit the Tax Court to review the process by which the Minister arrives at an assessment. Rather, the Tax Court is empowered to determine only whether the amount of tax assessed is correct. It appears that even the Charter of Rights does not change this position: see Burrows v. The Queen, 2005 TCC 761 (not yet available online).
SCC Dismisses Art Donation Appeals
The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed the taxpayer’s application for leave to appeal from the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal in Canada (Attorney General) v. Nash, 2005 FCA 386. Click here to read our article on the…
Lipson Now Online
Lipson v. The Queen, 2006 TCC 148, Chief Justice Bowman’s recent GAAR decision, is now available online.
Combating the Crazies
For at least the last five or six years, an assortment of conspiracy theorists and their ilk have been trolling the Internet and spreading phony stories about the unlawful nature of Canada’s tax system (see, for example, the Usenet newsgroup can.taxes).
GAAR Redux
In my post yesterday, I should have mentioned that Lipson v. The Queen, 2006 TCC 148, considered a set of transactions with some similarity to those considered by Mr. Justice Little in Overs v. The Queen, 2006 TCC 26, which…
Latest GAAR decision
Two days ago, the Tax Court released the latest decision of Chief Justice Bowman on the general anti-avoidance rule (the GAAR). The case, Lipson v. The Queen, 2006 TCC 148, does not appear to be on-line yet. The case considers…