CPA Canada: Tax Newsletter “T1135 Foreign Reporting — An Update on CRA Technical Interpretations” (November 2016)  

You might think that “foreign reporting” applies only to property located outside Canada. But “specified foreign property” for reporting purposes includes publicly traded shares or bonds of US and other non-resident corporations, even where those bonds and shares are held in Canadian brokerage accounts.  If you are assessed penalties for not filing, the November 2016 CPA Canada Tax Newsletter discusses some defences.  It also discusses CRA’s approach to calculating the $100,000 threshold for property jointly owned by spouses.

CPA Canada Tax Newsletters June and July 2015

For a summary of some recent CRA technical interpretation letters, see the June and July 2015 CPA Canada Tax Newsletters (“The CRA Claims it can Make a Late Reassessment to Increase Tax After an Earlier Arbitrary Assessment”; “An Employee Cannot Reduce a Prior Year Taxable Benefit by Reimbursing the Employer in a Later Year”; “Retroactive Support Amount — Are the Receiving Spouse’s Drawings on a Line of Credit Account Deductible?”; “Crowdfunding — Must Start-Ups Pay Tax on Money Raised Online?”)

CPA Canada’s November 2014 Tax Newsletter

For a summary of some recent decisions of the Tax Court of Canada dealing with reassessments and appeal limits, read this article, a version of which appeared in CPA Canada’s November 2014 Tax Newsletter: Tax Court Round-Up: Reassessment and Appeal Limits

June 2014 tax newsletter of CGA Canada

CRA’s foreign property reporting form has become more complicated for accountants to fill out, making it more expensive for clients to file.  Many taxpayers don’t realize how important it can be to file the return especially with new rules extending reassessment periods.  Read the article in the June 2014 tax newsletter of CGA Canada: The T1135 — Why Bother?

February 2014 Canadian Tax Highlights

Can the Federal Court tell the Tax Court which cases it must hear?  Read the case comment on Conocophillips Canada Resources Corp. v. Canada in the February 2014 Canadian Tax Highlights: FC Decides TCC Jurisdiction?  (See also now the FCA decision over-turning the FC: Canada (National Revenue) v. Conocophillips Canada Resources Corp. 2014 FCA 297.)

July 2013 Canadian Tax Highlights: “No Credit for Tax Withheld“

If your employer withholds taxes from your pay but doesn’t send the money to CRA, you still must pay the taxes to the Government.  Your only choice may be to sue your employer for the amount withheld but not remitted.  The same can happen to you if CRA garnishes your wages and the employer keeps the money from you but doesn’t send it to CRA.  Read the article in the July 2013 Canadian Tax Highlights: No Credit for Tax Withheld

February 2013 Canadian Tax Highlights on “Trang v. Nguyen“

Unregistered equitable interest, such as loans secured by real property or spousal rights in commercial properties can have priority over CRA’s registered liens for unpaid taxes.  Read the case comment in the February 2013 Canadian Tax Highlights on Trang v. Nguyen

June 2012 Canadian Tax Highlights “Lower Penalties Cost More“

Surprisingly, the smaller 10% penalties for failing to report income are more expensive than the 50% penalties for knowingly under-reporting income.  But there may be a defence, if you can show you tried to file correctly.  Read the article in the June 2012 Canadian Tax Highlights Lower Penalties Cost More

October 2011 Canadian Tax Highlights

Most public regulatory bodies in Canada (such as provincial colleges of medicine or dentistry, or law societies and chartered accountant institutes) claim tax exemption as “non-profit organizations.”  But this exemption demands that the regulator have no profit and that it not be able to distribute property or pay dividends to its members.  A less restrictive exemption for these bodies may be available on the basis that they are “public bodies performing a function of government in Canada.”  Read the article in the October 2011 Canadian Tax Highlights on Public Regulators and the Exemption under paragraph 149(1)(c) of Canada’s Income Tax Act

CPA Canada: Tax Newsletter “CRA Audit Triggers​” (January 2017)

For an article summarizing criteria CRA applies for selecting taxpayers for GST and Income Tax Audit, read CPA Canada: Tax Newsletter “CRA Audit Triggers​” (January 2017).  

“The Scope of Oral Discovery–Questions Relating to Evidence” in Tax Litigation, the Federated Press, Volume XIX, No.3 (August 2015)

​For an examination of the Tax Court of Canada rule on access to evidence in discovery, see “The Scope of Oral Discovery–Questions Relating to Evidence” in Tax Litigation, the Federated Press, Volume XIX, No.3 (August 2015), (pp. 1166-1168).  Summary: There is a common view among the bench and bar, affirmed in recent decisions, that parties to discovery may not ask questions that seek evidence. This common view traces to an historical distinction between questions of fact (permitted) and questions of evidence (forbidden).  Notwithstanding that common view, rule 95 of the Tax Court of Canada’s General Procedure Rules, like the rules of the Federal Court and of the provinces, expressly forbids a party from objecting to a question on the basis that it seeks evidence. This article traces the origin of the current rule to 1985, when the former distinction between questions of fact and evidence was abandoned in Ontario and details the thinking that gave rise to the introduction of the current rule in Canada.

CGA Canada’s August 2014 Tax Newsletter

Do-It-Yourself Accounting can be Costly.  Read why in CGA Canada’s August 2014 Tax Newsletter: How Do-It-Yourself Accounting can be Costly for Clients

The Canadian Taxpayer (Vol. xxxvii No. 24.) 

Can you get a tax donation receipt for donating blood or organs? Read the article in Carswell’s June 2014 issue of Canadian Not-for-Profit News: Tax Credit for Donations of Blood and Body Parts? (Republished in Carswell’s December 18, 2015 issue of The Canadian Taxpayer (Vol. xxxvii No. 24.) 

January 2014 tax newsletter of CGA Canada: Charity Scams — What You and Your Clients Should Know

Charity scams: their evolution, the CRA’s battle against them, new rules announced in 2013 by Parliament to crack down on them, recent tax court cases, and class action lawsuits.  Read the article in the January 2014 tax newsletter of CGA Canada: Charity Scams — What You and Your Clients Should Know

CGA Canada’s November 2013 Tax Newsletter: Are Your Clients Zapping?

Some businesses use software (called “zappers”) to delete cash sales, to evade payment of income taxes and GST.  New federal laws will make the manufacture, sale, use or ownership of this software illegal.   Read the article in CGA Canada’s November 2013 Tax Newsletter: Are Your Clients Zapping?

April 2013 Canadian Tax Highlights on the “Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act“

If you are crossing the border with $10,000 or more, you must declare it or risk having CBSA officers seize it all.  Once seized, unless you can prove that the money is not “proceeds of crime”, you may never get it back.  If you fear a CRA audit, it’s better to risk the audit than lose the money and still risk the audit.  Read the article in the April 2013 Canadian Tax Highlights on the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.

December 2012 Canadian Tax Highlights on “Public-Controlled Corporation Taxable?“

Are provincially-owned corporations taxable under Part I of the federal Income Tax Act?  In a recent Tax Court of Canada case, the court and parties assumed that the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation of British Columbia is taxable under s. 137.1 of the Income Tax Act.  But these provincially controlled corporations may be exempt from this tax under s. 149(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act or, as Crown agents, under s. 17 of the federal Interpretation Act.  Read the article in the December 2012 Canadian Tax Highlights on Public-Controlled Corporation Taxable?

January 2012 Canadian Tax Highlights on “Federal Tax Garnishment“

The Canada Revenue Agency has garnishment powers that aren’t subject to the usual provincial protections against seizure of certain property.  In particular, there is no limit to the amount of wages the CRA may garnish from a taxpayer’s employer.  Read the case comment in the January 2012 Canadian Tax Highlights on Federal Tax Garnishment

September 2011 Canadian Tax Highlights on “House v. The Queen“

The taxpayer has the onus of proof in tax cases but, sometimes, oral evidence may be enough proof even without supporting documents. Read the case comment in the September 2011 Canadian Tax Highlights on House v. The Queen