COVID-19 Tax Update: Tax Court of Canada further extends suspension period

In order to align with the Time Limits and Other Periods Act (COVID-19) (the “Act”) which came into force on July 27, 2020, the Tax Court of Canada has extended its previously announced suspension period from 173 days to 185 days.

The Court’s previous suspension period ran from March 16, 2020 to September 4, 2020. Instead, the period beginning on March 13, 2020 and ending on September 13, 2020, inclusively, will now be excluded from the computation of time in matters before the Court (the “Extended Suspension Period”).

The Court will not be issuing new timetable orders with adjusted dates to account for the Extended Suspension Period. Instead parties are to add 185 days to all dates in timetables issued by the Court on or before March 13, 2020. Parties are invited to rely on the chart in Appendix A to the Court’s Notice to the Public and the Profession dated August 14, 2020 to determine their revised deadlines.

Taxpayers are similarly required to file Notices of Appeal within the new statutory deadlines calculated in accordance with the Extended Suspension Period.