Taxpayer victories have been few and far between in the “donations in kind” world. Recently, in the Tax Court decisions in Marechaux v. The Queen (2010) and Kossow v. The Queen (2012), individuals who made donations financed in part by…
Like most full time tax lawyers, I spend some of my time counseling clients interested in aggressive tax planning schemes. These sorts of arrangements have a number of common characteristics. Usually they have been suggested to the client by a…
On June 4, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in the case of Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd. v. The Queen. The case is being closely watched by the tax community in Canada, and concerns the tax treatment…
On February 13, 2012, Finance released the “Agreement Between The Government Of Canada And The Government Of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Of The People’s Republic Of China For The Avoidance Of Double Taxation And The Prevention Of Fiscal…
If, like me, you’re a fan of Canadian football you’ve seen a lot of a commercial by a Canadian hardware chain that uses the tag line “Doing it Right.” The idea behind the ad is that with the right tools…
In 2011-0427181E5 (released October 17, 2012), the CRA considered whether a non-resident company would be subject to withholding tax in Canada on a bundled “licence fee” payment from a company resident in Canada in respect of certain computer software…
In The Queen v. Global Equity Fund Ltd., the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) applied Canada’s general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) to deny a business loss on the basis that it had no “air of economic or business reality”. The…
Among the many provisions in the October 24, 2012 pending amendments (see http://www.fin.gc.ca/drleg-apl/nwmm-amvm-1012-eng.asp) are rules that clarify the tax treatment of simple pro rata distributions from a foreign affiliate. Although the default rule is that all such distributions are…
Many of my legal colleagues choose not to practice income tax law. According to them, “real lawyers” don’t do tax – tax is something accountants do, not lawyers. I usually choose not to challenge them on this; it’s enough to…
Our obligation as taxpayers to file an accurate return of income has been described by one Tax Court judge as “a bedrock of the tax system.” When a return that accurately reports the taxpayer’s income and deductions has been assessed,…