Subsection 103(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) is an anti-avoidance rule that permits the Minister to reallocate (among other things) income among the partners of a partnership where the “principal reason” for the allocation agreed upon by the partners…
Fairness and Delay
If a court take too long to hear a taxpayer’s case, is the taxpayer entitled to interest relief under the fairness provisions of the Income Tax Act? In Cole v. Canada (Attorney General), 2005 FC 1445, the CRA said no. The Federal Court took another view of the matter.
Finance on Income Trusts
In a press release that appeared on the Department of Finance website today, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale announced that Finance consultations on income trusts had ended and that it would attempt to solve the problem posed by the vehicles by reducing “personal income taxes on dividends, which will help level the playing field between corporations and income trusts.”
Limits on Fairness
Apparently, the Department of Finance and the CRA believe that you can have too much fairness in the tax system. In the 2004 budget, Finance introduced a ten-year limitation period for fairness applications. It appears that the CRA is now adopting a particularly strict interpretation of the rule to deny relief to taxpayers even where the events that form the basis for the fairness request occurred within the limitation period.
Real Estate and Tax
Joe Monaco and I will do a presentation for the Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington tomorrow on real estate and tax. You can obtain a copy of our PowerPoint presentation here.