On February 1, I will be speaking to the CRA practitioner’s group at the Royal Botanical Gardens about “Tax Cases of Interest”. I have written here about all of the cases on which I will present. The following table lists the cases together with some notes on their current status:
Anchor Pointe
The CRA’s Appeals branch, according to P148 (“Resolving Your Dispute: Objection and Appeal Rights Under the Income Tax Act”), exists “to resolve disputes arising from decisions made under legislation administered by the [CRA] by conducting fair and impartial reviews.” In fact, Appeals sometimes ends up acting as if the objection process were a second chance to audit the taxpayer: sometimes officers of the branch appear to spend more time trying to repair deficiencies in the CRA’s case against the taxpayer than they do considering the taxpayer’s submissions. When this happens, is relief available to the taxpayer?
Suing the CRA
Two courts of appeal have recently considered attempts to litigate personal income tax disputes outside the Tax Court of Canada. Smith et al v. Canada (Attorney General) et al, 2006 BCCA 237, and The Queen v. Roitman, 2006 FCA 266,…
Fees, audits, objections and appeals
When can a taxpayer deduct fees paid to contest an assessment or reassessment? As is usual in tax matters, the answer is neither simple nor obvious.
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.
Settling Tax Court Appeals
It is often said that, in a tax appeal, the Canada Revenue Agency is the client and the Department of Justice is its lawyer. As the client, the CRA gives instructions to Justice about how to conduct a tax case. Whether a case can be settled, it is thought, depends on the litigation officer from the CRA who is giving instructions to Justice. Indeed, Justice lawyers themselves often talk this way.
Garber v. The Queen, 2005 TCC 635, suggests that the situation is more complex than that.
Cautionary Tale
Rajah v. The Queen, 2005 TCC 637 is not a case that breaks new ground, legally, but it serves as a useful reminder — expressed with the usual clarity and concision that one finds in Mr Justice Bonner’s decisions — that (1) the key question in any dispute about an assessment of tax is whether it is too high; (2) the taxpayer bears the onus of proving that the assessment is too high; and (3) the taxpayer cannot rely on information (supposedly) obtained from the CRA, especially if it is obtained from a nameless agent contacted through the CRA’s 800 number.
The Perils of Large Corporation Appeals
When drafting a notice of objection for a large corporation, it is essential to ensure that you cover all of the issues in dispute between your client and the CRA. If you fail to cover all of the issues, your client’s ability to contest them at the Tax Court could be curtailed. Newmont Canada Limited v. The Queen, 2005 TCC 143, is a harsh reminder of this possibility.