Taxation of a ‘signing bonus’

In Ritchie v R, 2018 TCC 113, the taxpayer owned land that he rented to a corporation he owned. The corporation carried on a farming business. Enbridge paid amounts to the taxpayer for easements across his land, including $255,790 as an “early signing bonus” (a bonus for signing the easement agreement before a certain date). The taxpayer reported the bonus as a capital gain. The CRA reassessed to include the full amount of the bonus in the taxpayer’s income. Was the bonus on capital account?

Objections

Ken Griffin and Marc Vanasse, “Income Tax Objection Process” Canadian Tax Highlights 25:3 (March 2017), summarizes the Auditor General’s report on the CRA objection process. Not surprisingly, the report found the process lacking in a number of ways. Objections take too long. The CRA does not learn effectively from the results of objections. In addition, the CRA does not have any standards for resolving objections in a timely manner.