The Toronto Star is reporting that Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson of Toronto Maple Leaf fame engaged in foreign exchange trading a reported losses for tax purposes. The CRA is calling the trading activities a “sham” (which doesn’t mean what…
Section 160 and FMV Consideration
A dental professional corporation (the vendor) sold its professional practice to an arm’s length purchaser. Some of the proceeds from the sale were paid to the shareholder of the corporation (the dentist) who used the funds to pay obligations of…
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?
Getting tracked
These days, in so many aspects of our lives, we are the product (as the saying goes). Retailers, for example, offer loyalty programs because, among other things, they allow our spending habits to be tracked. It turns out that the…
Election errors
In R & S Industries Inc. v R, 2017 TCC 75, both the CRA and the taxpayer agreed that they were bound by the elected amount shown on a T2059. That amount cannot be altered unless the CRA permits the…
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.
Tax deals re-visited
I wrote previously about Rosenberg v Canada (National Revenue), 2016 FC 1376. Kathryn Walker and Robert G. Kreklewetz “Deals with the CRA” Canadian Tax Highlights 25:3 (March 2017) discusses the cases. After discussing Rosenberg, the authors argue that Galway v…
Corporate gifts
Neal Armstrong reports that the Quebec Court of Appeal, in Emballages Starflex Inc. v Agence du revenu du Québec, 2016 QCCA 1856, has held that a corporation cannot deduct a gift to a charity as a business or promotional expense.…
US Issues in Canadian Tax Disputes
Roy Berg, in “Tax Dispute Resolution: Watch for US Issues” Canadian Tax Highlights 24:2 (February 2016), outlines some issues to consider when representing a US taxpayer who has a dispute with the CRA. He writes: The practitioner …
Jeopardy order
John Sorenson, in “Jeopardy Order Overturned” Canadian Tax Highlights 24:2 (February 2016), discusses Canada (National Revenue) v Grenon, 2015 FC 1050. In this case, the taxpayer applied to the court to overturn a jeopardy collection order made under section 225.2…