The CRA has updated its information on the new T1135 reporting regime. For those of you with clients who hold foreign property through a Canadian brokerage account, take note of the following: Form T1135 excludes certain property from the detailed…
Debt forgiveness anti-avoidance rule
I came across an interesting (older) technical interpretation a few days ago while looking at another matter. In TI 2009-0338911E5, the CRA commented on the rules in section 80 of the Income Tax Act applicable to a CCPC that was winding-up voluntarily where, as a result of the winding-up, debt owed in equal amounts to the 50/50 shareholders of the corporation would be forgiven.
Trusts in family law
Thanks to Joel Campagna at Manulife Financial for drawing my attention to Spencer v Riesberry, 2012 ONCA 418, in which the Court of Appeal held that a wife did not have an “interest” in a family home for the purposes of the Family Law Act (Ontario) because the home was held in a trust settled by the wife’s mother of which the wife was merely a contingent beneficiary and co-trustee.
Thoughts on things cross border
Please see this post for an interesting perspective on some of the 2014 Budget’s cross-border measures by my colleague, Jonathan Garbutt of Garbutt Tax Law. In addition, the Tax Lawyers Alliance, Garbutt Tax Law and EMG Transfer Pricing Experts are…
Berg Overturned
The Federal Court of Appeal, at 2014 FCA 25, has overturned the Tax Court decision in Berg v R, 2012 TCC 406, which I wrote about here.
PAC news
From the CRA “Income Tax Technical Publications” email list: “Income Tax Folio Chapter S4-F3-C1: Price Adjustment Clauses has been updated along with its Chapter History page. The effective date of the update is January 14, 2014.”
Ponzi schemes
Ponzi schemes have some “interesting” tax consequences for their unfortunate victims. It seems that the schemes pose some challenges in the bankruptcy context as well. In Samji (Re), 2013 BCSC 2101, the Court approved a settlement under which some of…
Depression
“‘Natural Person’ Tax Evasion Theory Caused ‘Staggering Losses’ At CRA: Report” For some reason, this story depresses me.
Objections and Taxpayer Relief
The following is from an interesting article on mondaq.com by a couple of lawyers at Gowlings: The CRA recently announced a new pilot project allowing CRA appeals officers to consider applications for interest and penalty relief concurrently with notices of…
Kossow appeal dismissed
Apparently, the Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal of Kossow v R, 2012 TCC 325. I say “apparently” because the decision was reportedly posted to the Federal Court of Appeal’s website and then taken down rather quickly.