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Sales
Tax

CBA National Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade Section

CBA Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade Section articles are published under the banner Sales Tax. Members interested in posting articles are encouraged to send them to the Section’s editors.

Editors: Allan Gelkopf and Bhuvana Rai

Today
Today

What can go wrong if you forget about GST/HST

  • December 10, 2018
  • Jean-Guillaume Shooner

When you’re negotiating a lump-sum settlement, it’s important to take GST/HST obligations into effect, says Jean-Guillaume Shooner in his review of Automodular Corporation v General Motors of Canada Limited, where the parties forgot to factor in taxes.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

New GST/HST rules for collecting tax on sales of carbon emission allowances

  • November 15, 2018
  • Jean-Guillaume Shooner and Julie D’Avignon

As Canada’s carbon emissions regime continues to develop, issues of taxation periodically arise that require refinements to related tax rules. To better align Canadian carbon taxation with international standards, the Department of Finance announced an adjustment to the rules for GST/HST collection from the sale of carbon emission allowances.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

Get tax advice on real estate purchases

  • November 15, 2018
  • Robert G. Kreklewetz and Steven Raphael

Unless specifically exempted, the supply of real property situated in Canada is generally taxable under the Excise Tax Act.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

Are secured creditors liable for retail customers’ GST-HST debt?

  • October 17, 2018
  • Robert G. Kreklewetz and Steven Raphael

A Federal Court ruling on section 222 of the Excise Tax Act in Canada v Toronto Dominion Bank could have a chilling effect on lenders. The ruling essentially says a secured creditor becomes personally liable for the individual’s tax debt even if it was still unaware of the tax debt when the secured loan was repaid. Robert G. Kreklewetz and Stephen Raphael review the case.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

What importers need to know about bringing hemp into Canada

  • September 13, 2018
  • Cyndee Todgham Cherniak

Industrial hemp may not have the same effect as its flashier cousin cannabis, but it still contains enough of the active ingredient THC to put it under the auspices of Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Cyndee Todgham Cherniak explores some of the things importers of industrial hemp need to remember.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

CRA publishes guidance for cannabis producers

  • September 13, 2018
  • Zvi Halpern-Shavim

In May, the Canada Revenue Agency published its first guidance for cultivators, producers and packagers of cannabis products, as well as the application forms for excise duty licences and the cannabis excise stamping regime.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

Are non-resident performers and directors required to register for GST/HST?

  • September 12, 2018

Canada is known as Hollywood North because many movies and television shows and commercials are filmed here. Everyone knows this – including the Government of Canada. That is why it is surprising that so little information is available to inform non-resident actors, actresses, performers, directors and producers about their obligations under Canada's GST/HST laws.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

A bare trust is not always a non-entity for ETA purposes

  • August 14, 2018
  • Robert G. Kreklewetz and Steven Raphael

A residential property is often the largest single purchase that an individual or family will ever make. To help defray some of the cost of Canadian home ownership, a new housing rebate is available under subsection 254(2) of the Excise Tax Act to enable those who qualify to obtain a rebate of GST/HST paid on the purchase of a new residential property.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade

2018 Quebec budget adds QST initiative for non-resident suppliers

  • June 25, 2018
  • Jean Marc Gagnon, Allan Gelkopf, Zvi Halpern-Shavim and Aideen Brennan

A team from Blakes looks at provisions in Quebec’s 2018 budget which will expand the scope of the province’s sales tax regime by requiring non-resident suppliers to collect and remit the QST under certain circumstance.

Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade