SimpsonWigle Law LLP Tax News

Merry Christmas everyone, from your friends at the Department of Finance: Government of Canada Announces Technical Amendments to Clarify the Specified Investment Flow-Through Entity Tax Rules.

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? (more…)

Bill C-28—”an Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 19, 2007 and to implement certain provisions of the economic statement tabled in Parliament on October 30, 2007″—received Royal Assent on Friday. The bill became law as S.C. 2007, c. 35. Thanks to Mark Hunter for the heads up.

Meanwhile, the CRA just posted the following about C-28 on its website:

“Canadians will start to see the impact of these tax cuts on January 1, 2008 because of the proactive steps being taken by the Canada Revenue Agency to implement rate reductions”, said Minister O’Connor. “The CRA is taking action to ensure all businesses have the information they need to implement the rate reductions so that Canadians can start benefiting from the GST/HST tax cut on January 1, 2008.”

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: (more…)

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, as shown by Bozzer v. The Queen, 2007 FC 867. Unfortunately, the Court had no reason to comment on the matter.

The CRA has made its annual report to Parliament, and parts of it make for interesting reading. Essentially the report amounts to the CRA’s report card on itself.

The report discusses outstanding tax debts among other things. The report notes that “We have strategies in place to manage tax debt–which totalled $20 billion at the end of March 2007, an increase from the March 2006 balance of $18.5 billion.” Of this $20 billion of tax debt, $14 billion is “medium- to high-risk” debt, according to the report. The report then proceeds to summarize some steps that will be taken to reduce the outstanding debt.

Does this mean that CRA Collections is finally going to “get tough”? One hopes not. The collectors aren’t exactly pussycats right now, as some of our clients will attest.

In Demers c. La Reine, 2006 CCI 504, the taxpayer tried to split income with his minor daughters. The Court ruled against the taxpayer, in part because it considered artificial the payment of thousands of dollars of dividends on shares that were issued for only $1. (more…)

Bill C-10 has received second reading in the Senate and has been referred to committee.