You can now check the CRA’s website to see whether a person really is a GST registrant. The CRA explains: The GST/HST Registry lets you validate the GST/HST number of a business, which helps to ensure that claims submitted for…
More on Fraud
In September last year, I wrote a short article about fraud and income tax. The Federal Court of Appeal reiterated the law on this subject in Vankerk v. The Queen, 2006 FCA 96. The ratio of Madame Justice Sharlow is…
Limits on Solicitor and Client Privilege
Some time ago, we wrote an article for The Bottom Line on accountants and client privilege (see the mid-September, 2003 issue). In the article, we noted that, in light of Tower v. M.N.R. and BDO Dunwoody LLP, [2002] D.T.C. 7315 (F.C.T.D.), rev’d 2003 FCA 307 on other grounds, most communications between an accountant and her client are not privileged. A recent case—M.N.R. v. Reddy, 2006 FC 277—shows that neither is some of the confidential information held by a lawyer about her client.
De Facto Control
I am regularly asked whether it is possible to “multiply” the small business deduction (the SBD), and just as regularly I find it difficult to provide easy-to-understand advice and guidance. The association rules are complex, and even if their technical requirements are met the CRA can still reassess to require corporations to share the SBD on the grounds that they are controlled de facto by the same person. Two recent cases show that the courts are willing to uphold such reassessments.
Current Tax Cases on June 1, 2006
I presented “Current Tax Cases” at the CRA’s Hamilton and District Tax Consultation Group on June 1, 2006 at the Royal Botanical Gardens. You can download my PowerPoint presentation here.
Going to Tax Court
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).