On October 24, 2012, the CRA released a technical interpretation which confirmed that no withholding tax applied on commission fees paid to a US insurance broker for certain customer information (2012-0457951E5). Briefly, the facts involved a Canadian insurance broker (Canco)…
On October 24, 2012, Finance released a huge package of technical amendments, many of which have been outstanding for years (see http://www.fin.gc.ca/n12/12-129-eng.asp). The package also included a revised set of rules pertaining to “upstream loans” made by foreign affiliates…
During the week of October 22, 2012, the Tax Court of Canada (TCC) found that Canada’s general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) did not apply because all the transaction-steps were undertaken primarily for a non-tax purpose (Spruce Credit Union v. The Queen,…
As there is no NHL hockey to watch right now, the second best way to pass the time is to consider the interaction of hockey players and tax. Hockey players, and other professional athletes, have complicated tax lives. They often…
Just about everyone with an email account has received at least one of these: a letter from a far off place (often in Africa) promising a very substantial reward if the recipient will provide the financing required to free up…
Transfer pricing issues arise when entities of a multinational corporation resident in different jurisdictions transfer property or provide services to one another. During the week of October 15, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada decided that any transfer pricing reassessment…
During the week of October 15, 2012, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) applied Canada’s general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) to deny a capital loss that was “a loss on paper only in the sense that no economic loss was suffered”…
In its October 15, 2012 release of updated draft legislation (at http://www.fin.gc.ca/drleg-apl/bia-leb-1012-eng.asp), Finance eliminated the benefit of the new outbound financing rule for Canadian subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations if a treaty applies to reduce the Canadian company’s interest…
Advocates of the plain meaning approach to statutory interpretation (I’m one of them) argue that clear and unambiguous words in the Act should be applied as written, however much the CRA dislikes the result. Applying the plain words sometimes conflicts…
The following blog was co-written by Greg DelBigio and Natasha Reid:
In a presentation made to members of the Canadian Bar Association Tax Subsection in November of 2011, the CRA provided statistics and information on the application of third-party advisor…