A Federal Court decision from earlier this year considers whether interest relief should be available to a taxpayer whose objection is held in abeyance pending the outcome of the appeal.
Withholding Tax Issues
In Sentinel Hill No. 29 Limited Partnership v. Canada (Attorney General), 2008 ONCA 132, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that the Superior Court is not the place to resolve disputes involving assessments under the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “Act”). That much is not surprising: in general, non-tax courts run as fast as they can from tax disputes, given the chance. The case illustrates, however, a nasty gotcha in international taxation that any practitioner who does cross border work should watch out for.
Nil Assessments
A taxpayer cannot object to or appeal from a nil assessment. The courts have held that a piece of paper that says you don’t owe any tax is not an assessment for the purposes of the Income Tax Act even though it might have that word printed at the top of it.
Tax Court Jurisdiction Again
In a February post, I noted that the Tax Court does not have jurisdiction over an assessment that relates only to Ontario taxes. In Hiscock v. Canada, 2007 FCA 382, the Court held that the Tax Court did have jurisdiction to determine whether a taxpayer was a resident of Nova Scotia.
Legal fees paid to defend against a claim for support
In Melnyk v. The Queen, 2007 TCC 733, and Beauchamp v. The Queen, 2007 TCC 747, the Tax Court refused to allow a taxpayer to deduct legal fees paid to defend against a claim for increased support payments. The Court…
Non-compete case
RCI Environnement Inc.(Centres de Transbordement et de Valorisation Nord-Sud Inc.) c. La Reine, 2007 CCI 647, is an interesting case on non-competes. CCH has translated the decision into English.
Anchor Pointe
The Supreme Court has dismissed with costs the taxpayer’s application for leave to appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in The Queen v. Anchor Pointe Energy Ltd., 2007 FCA 188.
Interest relief
The late 1980’s and early 1990’s were riotous times for tax shelters and their promoters. Unfortunately, many of them tended to leave taxpayers with severe hangovers in the form of large tax bills complete with assessments for interest amounts that tripled or quadrupled the amount of tax payable. What to do about that interest?
Third parties
One of my very first posts on this blog dealt with demands for information about third parties. The saga continues in Canada (National Revenue) v. The Greater Montréal Real Estate Board, 2006 FC 1069, in which the Court vacated its own ex parte order requiring the Board to turn over the information requested by the CRA. The Court founds as follows:
10 Years
In a post I wrote some time ago, I argued that the 10-year limitation rule for fairness (taxpayer relief) applications is ambiguous. I also noted that the CRA believes the rule is clear, and apparently it maintains that position still,…