Nullity

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the procedural rules for tax disputes are strict: they do not leave room for what is “fair”. In Hess v. R, 2011 TCC 387, the taxpayer, it might have been argued, filed an objection to a notice of assessment issued in 2003. The CRA, however, reassessed the taxpayer for the same year in 2006, and the taxpayer took no action in respect of the subsequent reassessment until 2009. Justice Woods responded to the fairness argument as follows:

The Gambler

The upsurge in interest in all things poker-related has sort of passed me by, like a lot of other trends and fashions. But, because I am a tax nerd, I have asked myself why it is that those who make a living playing poker, or who make some money at it anyway, don’t seem to pay tax on their winnings? I suspect that the answer can be found in Cohen v R, 2011 TCC 262.