Bell was denied favourable goods and services tax (“GST”) treatment of its purchase of electricity, which was determined to be a single supply for the purpose of claiming input tax credits (“ITCs”) under the Excise Tax Act, RSC 1985, c E-15 [ETA]. In Bell Telephone Company of Canada v. Canada, 2025 FCA 27 [Bell Canada], The Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) […]
Loyalty point programs demonstrate that, for GST/HST purposes, a payment can be received in its entirety as both a commercial and exempt amount. The Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) recently allowed an appeal brought by President’s Choice Bank (“PC Bank”) in President’s Choice Bank v Canada, 2024 FCA 135 [President’s Choice]. The decision permitted PC […]
In Deans Knight Income Corp. v Canada, 2023 SCC 16, (“Deans Knight”) the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or “the Court”) dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal, holding that the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (“GAAR”) under s. 245 of the Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th supp) (“ITA” or “the Act"), applied to a series of […]
Introduction The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) bifurcated 8-1 in Canada (Attorney General) v Collins Family Trust, 2022 SCC 26 (“Collins”) with Brown J writing for the majority and Côté J dissenting. The SCC majority allowed the Crown’s appeal from the British Columbia Court of Appeal (“BCCA”) concerning the tax planning and the Income Tax […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) granted leave to Deans Knight Income Corporation (“Deans Knight”) on March 10th, 2022 to appeal a Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) decision from August 4th, 2021. The SCC will hear the appeal case, Deans Knight Income Corporation v Her Majesty the Queen, on November 2nd, 2022. The appeal concerns […]
In Canada v Loblaw Financial Holdings Inc., 2021 SCC 51 [“Loblaw”], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) examines “one of the most complex tax schemes, with hundreds of definitions, rules, and exceptions that shift regularly” (Loblaw, para 28). The vital, yet straightforward, question being decided in the appeal is “does a parent corporation conduct business […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) is usually timid to grant leave to tax law cases. However, earlier this year, we saw the SCC decide MacDonald v. Canada 2020 SCC 6. (You can find our case comment on MacDonald here.) The SCC also granted leave to Canada v. Alta Energy Luxembourg S.A.R.L. 2020 FCA 43 […]
Why We Should Be Suspicious of Timeshares Julie Guindon is the family and estate lawyer at the heart of Guindon v Canada, 2015 SCC 41 [Guindon] in which the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) confirmed that penalties under s.163.2 of the Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp) [ITA] are not criminal in […]
Section 143 of the Income Tax Act (ITA), colloquially known as the “Hutterite rule”, provides for the separate tax treatment of communal religious organizations that satisfy the definition of a “congregation” as defined in subsection 143(4). This section was enacted in response to litigation undertaken by a number of Hutterite colonies in 1977. Following its […]