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…
Taxes on residential realty in and around Greater Vancouver have been steadily proliferating over the past few years: first the provincial Foreign Buyer Tax (2016), then the municipal Vacancy Tax (2017) and, most recently, the provincial Speculation Tax (2018). All…
Last week the BC government tabled Bill 45, which seeks to implement the province’s new Speculation and Vacancy Tax. A careful review of the Bill suggests that it is overreaching and lacking in taxpayer fairness. Critical aspects of the…
The recent Federal Court decision in Canada (National Revenue) v. Hydro-Québec, 2018 FC 622 made a strong statement against an interpretation of the CRA’s powers that would allow virtually unlimited invasions of taxpayer privacy. The decision considered the scope of…
In these heady days of cryptocurrency investment, the market can seem like a gold rush: offering promise, but at the expense of predictability. The taxation of cryptocurrencies is no different. In this article, a collaboration between the Fintech Team…
For the past few months, the City of Vancouver has been conducting audits to verify the 2017 vacancy tax declarations filed by owners under the City’s Vacancy Tax By-Law No. 11674. Observers of the tax, which is unique in Canada, have…
The Tax Court of Canada last week released a landmark decision on the GST/HST status of certain commonplace transaction processing services, namely VISA’s payment platform offering to financial institutions.
In Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v Her Majesty the Queen,…
A few months ago, BC announced a new “speculation tax” that will apply to certain residential properties in the province. The tax is intended to capture foreign and domestic speculators, “satellite families” who live in BC but pay little BC…
The BC government has proposed to introduce a new residential realty tax, taking effect this year. While BC has provided a general overview of the new tax by way of information sheets and public announcements, the government has yet to…
The Province of Quebec announced today that it intends to expand its requirements for non-resident vendors to collect and remit Quebec Sales Tax (“QST”) on sales to Quebec consumers, effective as early as January 1, 2019. In this context “non-resident”…