The revised rules for notices of non-compliance (NONCs) suspend the counting of days for determining the end of a notice reassessment period during which a judicial review of a NONC is pending regardless of the outcome. “A taxpayer considering whether…
Limits on CRA demands for information
In Canada (National Revenue) v Cohen, 2025 FC 2012, the Court dismissed a Crown application for a compliance order because the taxpayer had demonstrated, on a balance of probabilities, that he had done everything reasonably possible to obtain the documents…
Taxpayer obligated to produce documents
In Robillard v R, 2024 TCC 90, the taxpayer-appellant, based on a decision of the Alberta District Court from 1974, argued that he was not required to produce documents to the CRA under sections 231.1 and 231.2. The Tax Court…
Demands for information from non-residents
Canada (National Revenue) v. Schreiber, 2024 FC 729, the Federal Court held that, in general, the CRA is entitled to demand information from non-resident persons or entities.
CRA interviews
The 2021 Federal budget proposed to amend the Income Tax Act (Canada) to permit the CRA to demand interviews with owner-managers and their employees. The authors note the potential for mischief or worse where an auditor interviews an unprepared owner-manager…
All due dispatch
Two recent cases consider the meaning of “all due dispatch” as the phrase applies to the time the CRA can take to pay refunds of net GST. In both cases, the courts refused to second-guess the CRA decision to withhold…
Application denied
A taxpayer cannot bring an application for a court order preventing the CRA from exercising its power to demand records and information even where the taxpayer believes that the CRA would be estopped from issuing an assessment for a matter to which the records and information relate.
Accountant’s due diligence report
Steve Suarez, “FCA To Hear Atlas Tube Appeal” 27:12 Canadian Tax Highlights (December 2019), discusses Canada (National Revenue) v. Atlas Tube Canada ULC, 2018 FC 1086. The Federal Court held that an accounting firm’s due diligence report on the tax…
Audit success
Automobile benefits are fish in a smaller barrel for CRA auditors. If all else fails, the auditor can recover something for his or her time by reassessing them. (My experience on the subject is probably not representative. Nevertheless, it’s the…
Handing over records to CRA
Clients sometimes complain to me that they have given records to a CRA auditor who then returns only some of the records or returns them in a disorganized state that makes them difficult to work with. Accordingly, if a client…