PWC has just published a good Tax Memo (2012-27) on taxpayer access to audit and appeals reports and other documents generated by the CRA in the course of issuing a reassessment. I found helpful the references to P-148 and CRA technical interpretation 2011-0403751C6 regarding what the CRA should provide without the taxpayer having to make an access request. Continue reading
Livaditis v Canada Revenue Agency, 2012 FCA 55, is an interesting case on voluntary disclosures. The cases reminds us that the CRA gets to decide when a disclosure is voluntary, and the courts will not interfere with such a decision lightly.
I’m used to hearing about taxpayers who file objections or appeals to the Tax Court late, but poor Mr Jablonski filed his objection too early (Jablonski v R, 2012 TCC 29). He objected to a reassessment before the end of the 90-day limitation period. Unfortunately, he also filed the objection before the reassessment was even issued, which invalidated the objection. What’s worse, he didn’t re-file the objection after the reassessment was actually issued, and he didn’t apply to the CRA for an extension of time within which to file the objection. The Tax Court, then, also dismissed his application for the extension.
I wrote about whether an officer or director of a corporation could represent it in a Tax Court appeal in a post I wrote about White Star Copper Mines Limited v R, 2007 TCC 669. A more recent decision appears to deviate from the approach taken in White Star. Continue reading
Jamie Golombek has written an interesting piece on a taxpayer who tried to claim an ABIL and was met with the usual CRA skepticism. The issue in dispute in the Tax Court appeal eventually resolved itself into whether a return filed electronically met the requirements of subsection 50(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the Court found that it did). I, however, found the case interesting for its illustration of the obstacles one must often negotiate to claim an ABIL. See Dhaliwal v R, 2012 TCC 84.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal in the Garron case: see Fundy Settlement v Canada, 2012 SCC 14, which I wrote about here.
I found it impossible not to feel sorry for Mr Ruff, a lawyer who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a team of fraudsters: see Ruff v R, 2012 TCC 105. Naturally, the CRA disallowed his attempt to deduct the losses as business expenses. The Tax Court agreed with the Minister’s position. Continue reading
Several clients of a colleague of mine have received letters from the CRA requesting that the taxpayers make a disclosure to the CRA if they happen to find unspecified errors in their tax returns. Continue reading
Blaine Cameron at KPMG, Hamilton, was kind enough to point me in the direction of two recent rectification decisions. Continue reading
March 30 Update John Campbell, in a comment posted below, points out that paragraph 110.6(15)(b) likely provides an escape from the “trap” that I discuss below at least insofar that one is concerned about whether the shares of Holdco qualify for the exemption.
I was helping a fellow tax professional with a situation like the following where I think I almost stumbled into a trap relating to the $750,000 capital gain exemption. Continue reading
