The CRA has published a document on its website about employee debt.
Commission employees
The trend in Tax Court jurisprudence is to require specificity in contracts to permit a commissioned employee to deduct an expense. The contract must contemplate the particular expense in question before it will be deductible under paragraph 8(1)(f) of the…
Payroll deductions are special
How are payroll source deductions different from an ordinary income tax debt? 1. The CRA can commence collection action as soon as source deduction are overdue. An objection does not stay collection action. 2. Some limitation periods (assuming no negligent…
Employee parking pass
Amit Ummat summarizes Smith v R, 2019 FCA 173, in which the Court held that a flight attendant received a taxable benefit from an employer-provided parking pass.
Employee discounts
the CRA acknowledges that its administrative position on employee discount programs is that an employee may exclude from income discounts on merchandise and commissions from personal purchases, but that administrative position does not…
Parking as a taxable benefit
An employee derives a benefit from free parking unless the employee must use the space “regularly” to perform his or her employment duties (ie for business purposes). Parking “to facilitate working irregular or extended hours is parking for business…
CRA backs off on employment expenses
It appears the CRA has backed off its employment expenses project. A colleague of mine sent a release he received from CRA Audit, which read in part as follows: Effective immediately, the Agency will stop reviewing and disallowing “other employment…
Project for employees
The CRA has a new ‘project’ underway. This time the target is employees who deduct employment expenses under section 8 of the Income Tax Act. The CRA seems to be on the lookout for employees who are also shareholders of…
Employee discounts
Kathryn Walker, “Employee Discounts for Merchandise: The Law” Canadian Tax Focus 7:4 (November, 2017) argues that the CRA’s new policy in Income Tax Folio S2-F3-C2, “Benefits and Allowances Received from Employment” on employee discounts simply reflected a change in the…
Cell phone costs for employees
Neal Armstrong draws our attention to Meberatu v R, 2017 TCC 211. The Court allowed the taxpayer-employee to deduct amounts in respect of her work-related use of a cell phone. The amounts permitted were estimates because the taxpayer failed to…