Prior to the 2013 federal budget, former subsection 231.2(3) of the Income Tax Act allowed the Minister, on an ex parte application, to require third parties (such as employers or insurers) to produce documents or information relating to unnamed taxpayers.…
The First-Time Donor’s Super Credit (“FDSC”) was one of the measures proposed in the March 21, 2013 Federal Budget. On May 2, 2013, the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) released a “Question and Answer” describing some of the essential features…
On March 21, 2013, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) released Information Circular IC00-1R3 which deals with of the Voluntary Disclosures Program (VDP). The Circular cancels and replaces the previous information circular on the same topic that was released in 2007.…
Subject to limited exceptions, communications involving legal advice between a lawyer and his or her client are privileged. As a result, a client can generally be confident that communications with his or her lawyer will not be disclosed to third…
The CRA recently released document 2012-0455501I7 which comments on a corporation’s eligibility for tax-exempt status as a non-profit organization (NPO) under the Income Tax Act. The document suggests a narrower approach to NPO status than previously espoused by the CRA.…
The Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) released three decisions in late October involving “paper losses” and the general anti-avoidance rule (“GAAR”). In each case, the taxpayer incurred a loss as a result of a series of transactions that was said…
On August 1, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada released its unanimous decision in Canada v. Craig, 2012 SCC 43. This case, which involves the deductibility of farm losses under subsection 31(1), is a significant departure from Moldowan v. R.,…
On July 13th, 2012, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the Crown’s appeal in The Queen v Peter Sommerer (2012 FCA 207).
The facts are not complex. In 1996, Peter Sommerer’s father, Herbert Sommerer, created an Austrian private foundation of…
The Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) has confirmed that a large scale information gathering project is underway in respect of not-for-profits (NPOs) and their income-generating activities. Between 2010 and 2013, Specialty Audit is coordinating the audit of 1440 randomly selected…
The Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) has recently mailed detailed audit request letters to members of certain individual pension plans (“IPPs”). The letters appear to be connected to an ongoing audit program targeting IPPs.
As background, an IPP is a defined…