A corporation is a “large corporation” if its taxable capital, and that of any related corporation, employed in Canada exceeds $10 million (a limit that has not changed since it was set in 2006). Per subsection 165(1.11), a large corporation must identify all issues it intends to dispute in an objection. It cannot raise omitted issues in a Tax Court appeal.
In 941624 Alberta Ltd. v R, 2026 TCC 67, the taxpayer’s objection to reassessments that had been issued for 2019-2022 simply read “The taxpayer objects to the Minister’s reassessment. The Minister’s reassessment errs in fact and law. The taxpayer’s return was correct as filed.” The taxpayer then appealed to the Tax Court under paragraph 169(1)(b) without waiting for appeals to respond to the objection. The Crown moved to quash the appeals for 2020-2022 because the taxpayer became a large corporation in 2020. The Court granted the motion.
The authors note that the taxpayer might have avoided its fate in the Tax Court if it had responded to a request for more detail from the appeals officer assigned to its objection. See Devon Canada Corporation v R, 2015 FCA 214. The taxpayer, however, ignored the request and appealed directly to the Tax Court instead.
The taxpayer has appealed the Tax Court’s decision.
Dominic Bédard-Lapointe, Robert Celac, and Charles-É. Levesque “Large Corporations: The Requirement To Reasonably Describe Each Issue” Tax for the Owner-Manager 26:3 (July 2026)
