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The Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) has recently announced that bare trusts are not required to file T3 returns and Schedule 15 for the 2024 tax year, extending from a similar [...]

Introduction: Stack v The King, 2024 TCC 137 In Stack v The King, 2024 TCC 137, the Tax Court of Canada blocked the Canada Revenue Agency's attempt to obtain various [...]

Introduction - Director's Liabilities Under the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act (GST/HST) A director of a corporation may be held personally liable when the corporation fails to [...]

In August 2024, the Federal Court ('FC') delivered its judgment on Onex Corporation v. Canada, 2024 FC 1247, setting aside the decision of the Canada Revenue Agency ('CRA'), which refused [...]

Introduction: The Nature of Business Income for Tax Purposes A Canadian tax resident is taxable on income from all sources, including from business and property. A taxpayer's income from a [...]

Introduction - A taxpayer sought an exemption from paying income tax due to abortion law In August 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) denied the application for leave to [...]

Introduction: Key Criteria Of A Successful Voluntary Disclosure Application Include Completeness, Voluntariness, 1-Year Or 1-Reporting-Period Overdue, Potential Penalties, and Payments. A Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) in Canada is a policy [...]

Introduction: A Canadian Property Owner's Increasing Tax and Reporting Obligations Canada has a housing crisis. The government of Canada openly admits that the 'national housing crisis presents one of Canada's [...]

Appropriate Tax Treatment for a Specific Income Tax Provision: Who Determines? The provisions of the Income Tax Act can pose significant challenges for those unfamiliar with legislative language. Moreover, the [...]

Introduction Business owners are often tempted to dip into the corporation's pockets to pay for personal expenses. A temptation which seems like a relatively insignificant transgression but in reality, is [...]

Introduction On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court released its decisions in Dow Chemical Canada ULC v. The King, 2024 SCC 23 (Dow Chemical) and its companion appeal, Iris Technologies [...]

Introduction - Use of Deceased Examinee's Answer's in a Tax Appeal Appeals to the Tax Court of Canada can be a lengthy matter and an unfortunate reality is that persons [...]

Introduction: Illicit Businesses Still Need to Pay Taxes Tax obligations exist regardless of whether the source of income is from illegal activities. The Canada Revenue Agency ('CRA') will target taxpayers [...]

Introduction: Who needs to file form T1135 Under S.233.3 of the Income Tax Act, Canadian tax residents (individuals, corporations or certain partnerships and trusts), who at any time of year, [...]

Introduction: Statute-Barred Tax Years & Statute-Barred Tax Audits Canada's Income Tax Act sets out a 'normal reassessment period,' after which the Canada Revenue Agency generally cannot reassess a person's taxable [...]

Case Comment - Hillcore Financial Corporation v. The King INTRODUCTION: PROPER REPLY IN PLEADINGS BEFORE THE TAX COURT OF CANADA Tax pleadings initiate cases that go before the Tax Court [...]

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is set to pilot a new automatic tax filing system in 2024. The move toward automatic tax filing, first promised in the 2020 speech from [...]

Introduction - The CRA Wants Shopify to Identify All Canadian Merchants and Release their Sales Records The Canada Revenue Agency wants to know whether Canadian e-commerce merchants using Shopify have [...]

The Canadian Departure Tax Regime Under subsection 128.1(4) of the Canadian Income Tax Act, a Canadian emigrating to another jurisdiction is subject to a 'deemed disposition' on qualifying property. (This [...]

In the ever-evolving world of social media, individuals have found new avenues to express their creativity, share their passions, and build thriving businesses. Social media influencers, in particular, have gained [...]

Introduction - Binance Announces it Will Proactively Withdraw from the Canadian Cryptocurrency Market On May 12, 2023, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume of trades, announced it would [...]

What is the taxpayer relief application? When a taxpayer cannot meet tax payment deadlines or fulfill other obligations set by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) due to personal misfortune or [...]

Introduction: Canadians Eye a Move Abroad for Favorable Tax Treatment on Cryptocurrency This last decade has seen a rapid growth in popularity of cryptocurrencies as short-term investments or speculative assets, [...]

'Cryptic on Cryptocurrency' says David Rotfleisch, a Canadian Crypto-Tax Lawyer Introduction - The CRA Releases Tax Tips on Mining Cryptocurrency On March 13, 2023, the Canada Revenue Agency's Media Room [...]

In 2009, the Tax-Free Savings Account ('TFSA') program was introduced by the federal government of Canada as a means to allow Canadian families and individuals to more responsibly plan for [...]

Many distributors and manufacturers provide their customers or third-party purchasers rebates on their products or services. When a GST/HST registrant pays a rebate with respect to services or products on [...]

Overview - A Canadian Tax Lawyer's Guide to Tax Treatment of Halal Mortgages Islamic or 'halal' financial products are growing globally and this is being driven by the peculiarity of [...]

A brief introduction to the new taxable benefit policies of CRA brought in force due to the global pandemic: It is the time of the year when the employers are [...]

INTRODUCTION - TAX PENALTY AND INTEREST RELIEF FOR OVERCONTRIBUTIONS TO A TFSA As of 2009, Canadian tax residents over 18 years old have been entitled to establish a tax-free savings [...]

CRA denied taxpayer's deduction claim on travel expenses Under section 8 of the Income Tax Act, employees can deduct certain employment expenses such as meal, travel and entertainment expenses if [...]

Big box store was ordered by the Federal Court to turn over its client lists to the CRA In November 2022, the Federal Court granted the CRA's request to force [...]

Introduction: The Ministry of Finance has Walked Back the Deadline for Imposing Disclosure Obligations on Notifiable Transactions As part of the 2021 Federal Budget, the Minister of Finance proposed the [...]

What is the new housing rebate? The new housing rebate is available to individuals who purchase a new home or condo from a builder, or who hires a builder to [...]

Taxpayer sought damages against the CRA for sale of property In Oddi v CRA, Mr. Alberta Oddi (the 'Taxpayer') operated an illegal marijuana growing operation on a farm property that [...]

The Long-Awaited 'Ethereum Merge' a Success - An Introduction The Ethereum blockchain was successfully upgraded on September 15, 2022, to switch from its previous 'proof-of-work' approach, which relies on what [...]

Introduction: ITC Record-Keeping Requirements for Canadian Businesses Dealing in Non-Fungible Tokens Many artists, musicians, and content creators have turned to non-fungible tokens as a new way of monetizing their work. [...]

What is a tax treaty A tax treaty is a bilateral agreement made by two countries to resolve certain tax issues such as double taxation, pension treatment or residence status [...]

A business owner is generally required to keep books and records for minimum of six years Under the Income Tax Act, Canadian small businesses can generally deduct business expenses if [...]

Introduction: The Ministry of Finance has Proposed New Mandatory Reporting Obligations for Taxpayers The OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, Action 12: Final Report ('BEPS Project'), released in 2015, [...]

Federal Court of Appeal ruled that the CRA's review officer's failure to engage with the request for equitable treatment was unreasonable In Barrs v Canada, 2022 FCA 147, Barrs, the [...]

Introduction - Digital Payment Services and Financial Reporting Obligations Digital payment services like those offered by PayPal, which are used to facilitate money transfers domestically and internationally, are now well-integrated [...]

A taxpayer filed judicial review application after her voluntary disclosure application was rejected. Ms. Christen (the 'Taxpayer') applied for judicial review of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)'s decision to reject [...]

Tax Court of Canada ruled Taxpayer's trading activities designed to avoid tax constituted a business In the Queen v Paletta, 2022 FCA 86, the Canadian tax litigation lawyer acting for [...]

Background: What is an NFT? A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital asset that is built on top of the blockchain system. It is non-fungible in the sense that [...]

Background on Directors Liability for Taxes: The Tax Court of Canada has recently decided a case regarding director's liability for unremitted GST/HST. Generally, a director of a corporation can be [...]

Starting Point of Tax Law and How it Relates to Corporate Tax The starting point of tax tax law in Canada is section 2 of the Income Tax Act. Subsection [...]

Introduction - Canadian Taxpayers Must Pay Departure Tax When Leaving Canada There are two types of individuals who must pay tax in Canada - Canadian residents and non-residents. Subject to [...]

Introduction: Related-Party Cryptocurrency Transactions & Derivative Tax Liability under Section 160 of Canada's Income Tax Act Section 160 of Canada's Income Tax Act is a tax collection tool. It thwarts [...]

Introduction - Taxpayer filed motion for determination under rule 58 In Matthew Macisaac Consulting Inc. v HMQ, Matthew Macisaac Consulting Inc. (the Appellant) brought a motion for determination of the [...]

Introduction - Cryptocurrency and NFTs should be disclosed as matrimonial property A divorce will result in many financial changes and one of the major issues for divorcing couples is division [...]