CRA Sued for $32million for Threatening to Intimidate Taxpayers into Accepting Settlement
Cardel Construction, a Calgary-based development company, recently initiated a lawsuit against the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) seeking $32million as a result of alleged damage to its business as well as “mental anguish and stress” caused by the CRA’s actions. Among other things, Cardel claims that the CRA initiated multiple audits and “threatened to impose unreasonable and punitive levels of…income tax, both corporate and personal, for the sole purpose of intimidating” the company into settling the audits on the CRA’s terms. This lawsuit follows on the heels of several other recent cases involving taxpayers suing the CRA directly for allegedly improper conduct in auditing and/or reassessing them (see, e.g., Leroux v. Canada Revenue Agency, 2014 BCSC 720 and Groupe Enico inc. c. Agence du revenue du Québec, 2013 QCCS 5189 – both of which are currently under appeal). More details regarding Cardel’s lawsuit can be found here: link