I have added two new pages to our website that might be of interest to our readers. The first is a collection of links to tax-related websites. The second page simply re-produces an article I posted some time ago on…
Checking GST Numbers
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…
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.
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…
Combating the Crazies
For at least the last five or six years, an assortment of conspiracy theorists and their ilk have been trolling the Internet and spreading phony stories about the unlawful nature of Canada’s tax system (see, for example, the Usenet newsgroup can.taxes).
Good news for CAs
Here is some good news for accountants from last week’s provincial budget: a chartered accountant’s professional corporation will be able to become a member of a limited liability partnership.
List of Canadian legal blogs
Blogging is so popular that even lawyers are doing it! Steve Matthews, the Knowledge Services Director at Clark Wilson LLP in Vancouver, has created a list of legal blogs (“blawgs”) in Canada, which you can find here.
Reallocation of Partnership Income
Subsection 103(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) is an anti-avoidance rule that permits the Minister to reallocate (among other things) income among the partners of a partnership where the “principal reason” for the allocation agreed upon by the partners…
Fairness and Delay
If a court take too long to hear a taxpayer’s case, is the taxpayer entitled to interest relief under the fairness provisions of the Income Tax Act? In Cole v. Canada (Attorney General), 2005 FC 1445, the CRA said no. The Federal Court took another view of the matter.
Finance on Income Trusts
In a press release that appeared on the Department of Finance website today, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale announced that Finance consultations on income trusts had ended and that it would attempt to solve the problem posed by the vehicles by reducing “personal income taxes on dividends, which will help level the playing field between corporations and income trusts.”