In Sorbara v. Canada (Attorney General), 2009 ONCA 506, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the Ontario Superior Court of Justice does not have jurisdiction to hear an application relating to liabilty for GST under the Excise Tax Act (Canada). Parliament has given exclusive jurisdiction over that kind of question to the Tax Court of Canada. The appellant’s application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada was dismissed with costs (2009 CanLII 61389).
How to be an effective client
Sometimes clients give me the impression that they think that once they have handed over a matter to me, their work is done: they can just sit back and watch me do my thing. Of course, nothing is further from…
Chances of Winning at the Tax Court of Canada
If the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) challenges your return and you can’t afford a tax lawyer, how likely are you to win your case? Does hiring a lawyer help your chances?
Criminal Minds
Mr. Mortensen was convicted of tax evasion in respect of some commissions he earned but failed to report. He filed an appeal with the Tax Court, and the Crown responded by bringing a motion to dismiss the appeal. The taxpayer, the Crown argued, shouldn’t be permitted to contest the tax owing and the gross negligence penalties imposed in respect of amounts for which he had been convicted of evasion.
White collar
The CRA is huffing and puffing to reassure Canadians “that the minority of tax preparers and promoters who try to make money at the expense of Canadian taxpayers are not getting away with it”. Granted, my experience does not represent…
Self-Assessment
In Rezler v. The Queen, 2009 TCC 609, the taxpayer made excess contributions to her RRSP. On appeal, the Tax Court judge responded as follows:
Partnership freeze
Tax Topics number 1984 (March 18, 2010) has an interesting article on estate freezes using partnerships in light of Krauss v. The Queen, 2009 TCC 597.
84.1 Gotcha
Assume that A and B, who deal at arms length, own 55 and 20 common shares in the capital of Opco respectively. A and B also own 95 and 5 common shares in the capital of Holdco respectively. Assume that B’s tax adviser suggests to her that she can sell her common shares in the capital of Opco to Holdco for a purchase price equal to $400,000 cash. What could possibly go wrong? See Emory v. The Queen, 2010 TCC 71, for the answer to that question.
Famliy Members as Directors
I’ve seen a number of cases where a family member consents to be a director of a corporation—exactly why nobody seems to know after the fact—and then ends up being assessed for unremitted source deductions. The family member might be uneducated and barely able to speak English, but that won’t stop the assessments. The CRA and the Ministry of Revenue are unsympathetic. The courts are less cold-blooded it seems.
Litigation
Tax Court litigation—or any other kind of litigation for that matter—is inherently unpredictable. Take Pigeau v. The Queen, 2009 TCC 582, for example. In that case, a key issue was the value of a property transferred from an individual to…