A status Indian’s income from property on an Indian reserve is exempt from income tax under s. 81 of the ITA and s. 87 of the Indian Act. But cases have expanded the meaning of “property situated on a reserve”.
“If there were sufficiently strong, concrete and discernable connections between the property and a Reserve, the exemption would be available to the Indian.” (See para. 38 citing the SCC cases Bastien Estate and Dube. Busines income will be exempt if the taxpayer lived on a reserve or the business took place on the reserve. (Para. 54)
Here, three of the four homes Mr. Pilfold had were off-reserve. And Justice Miller found that the business planning, decision-making, fishing and sales were mostly off-reserve; so the income wasn’t exempt.