David Davies is a partner with Thorsteinssons LLP. He enjoys challenging CRA administrative practice and policy, preferring instead to rely on the law. Read complete profile »
In Ahamed v. The King (“Ahamed”), the Tax Court of Canada held that a tax-free savings account (“TFSA”), despite its moniker, is capable of carrying on a business of trading securities and any income earned from that business is fully…
Earnings within Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) and other tax-deferred plans are, in principle, supposed to grow “tax-free”. However, some taxes can still apply. One such tax is the advantage tax which applies at the rate of 100% of any advantage…
The Tax Court of Canada recently decided a new case under the general anti-avoidance rule (“GAAR”) in section 245 of the Income Tax Act. In Birchcliff Energy Ltd. v. The Queen, the Court held that the GAAR applied to restrict…
Almost since Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) were first introduced in 2009, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has been intent on clamping down on what it views as inappropriate activities undertaken within TFSAs. One area in particular has raised the ire…
Last week, the Canadian Department of Finance released proposed technical amendments to the Income Tax Act to deal with perceived deficiencies related to the housing market. Buried within those (very short, by technical amendment standards) changes is a suspension of…
The battle against perceived rampant real estate speculation continued when, on October 3, 2016, Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau released income tax amendments designed to “close loopholes” in the Income Tax Act related to the housing market. A relatively innocuous…
It’s early 2015 and the CRA continues to aggressively audit Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs), going as far back as 2009 when TFSAs were first introduced. And why not? There is typically no time limit on issuing these types of assessments.…
Occasionally, the CRA agrees with a taxpayer, in advance, to assess tax in a particular way. Those agreements arise most frequently in the context of advance income tax rulings but, as in Szymczyk v. The Queen, 2014 TCC 380,…
It has been just over a month since the Federal Court of Appeal rendered its decision in JP Morgan Canada Asset Management v. AG Canada. In the wake of that decision, I thought there would never be another judicial…
The Supreme Court of Canada has, in a unanimous judgment rendered by Justice LeBel, ruled in favour of the taxpayers in two tax-related contractual rectification cases arising under the Civil Code of Quebec (Services Environnementaux AES and Riopel).
Both cases…