On June 28, 2019, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision on the Ontario government’s reference regarding the constitutionality of the federal carbon pricing regime. Like the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled in May, the majority of the…
On May 3, 2019, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal released its decision in the Saskatchewan government’s reference asking it if the federal “carbon tax” is unconstitutional. The Court held that the federal legislation was validly enacted under the <a…
The BC government’s recent focus on tax evasion and money laundering in the real estate market has led to proposed legislation, the Land Owner Transparency Act (Bill 23 – 2019), which will impose potentially onerous disclosure requirements on those who…
In Budget 2019, the federal government continues to bolster its tools and resources to detect and prosecute tax evasion and money laundering. These proposals are relevant both to those who do not pay the amount of tax the law requires,…
Minister of Finance, Bill Morneau, tabled the 2019 Budget today (“Budget Day”). This Thorsteinssons update summarizes some of the main tax takeaways.
The tax measures introduced in the Budget should not impact the vast majority of businesses. As a pre-election…
On July 22, 2019, the Federal Court released its reasons for judgement in rejecting a constitutional challenge of sections 263-269 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the “ITA”). The full reasons can be found at 2019 FC 960 (“Deegan”).…
In the recent decision in Polubiec (2019 TCC 146), the Tax Court of Canada upheld the assessment of approximately $140,000 in penalties under the repeated failure to report income penalty under s. 163(1) of the Income Tax Act (Canada). In…
On May 17, 2019, the Minister of Finance published proposed amendments to the GST/HST portion of the Excise Tax Act. Notable among the proposed amendments is the inclusion of “virtual payment instrument” in the definition of “financial instrument”. A virtual…
On May 3, 2019, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal released its decision in the Saskatchewan government’s reference regarding the constitutionality of the federal government’s carbon tax. In a 3-2 decision, the Court ruled that the federal carbon tax “backstop”…
The deadline to complete the 2018 Speculation and Vacancy Tax declaration is set for this Sunday, March 31, 2019. All registered owners or co-owners of residential property in affected areas in BC should declare before this deadline using the Declaration…
