2021

The Department of Finance (Canada) released a consultation paper on July 22, 2016 outlining a series of proposed reforms to the provisions of the Excise Tax Act (Canada) that govern the GST/HST liability of financial institutions including many investment funds.

The Supreme Court of Canada rendered its first customs tariff decision in Canada v. Igloo Vikski Inc. (2016 SCC 38). The decision provides guidance on applying the General Rules for the Interpretation of the Harmonized System, particularly in the context of how the rules inform one another.

Administrative decision-makers are authorized by statute and given varying degrees of discretion. If a decision-maker has broad discretionary power and can show that the facts were considered when coming to a decision, it is extremely difficult – if not impossible – to overturn the decision in a judicial review application.

ean-Guillaume Shooner and Nicholas Grenier of Stikeman Elliott say the Federal Court of Appeal decision in Attorney General of Canada v. Bri-Chem Supply Ltd. clarifies the hierarchy between all courts and tribunals.

In Club Intrawest v The Queen,¹ the Tax Court of Canada considered certain intricate and novel issues. The court grappled with whether Club Intrawest made supplies, the nature of Club Intrawest’s supplies, the place of these supplies, and whether a single supply could have a dual tax status.

Human rights are about each of us living in dignity and the human rights project is about standing up to injustice and showing solidarity in the face of oppression. Due to economic globalization, operations of transnational corporations have an impact on local and international markets and affairs of state.

The Great-West Life Assurance Company appealed from assessments issued by the Canada Revenue Agency and sought a rebate of GST that it argued had been paid in error to one of its suppliers for the provision of financial services.

The concept of claiming input tax credits for private businesses that provide both taxable and exempt services has recently been explored by the Tax Court of Canada.

Whether an imported good is for “domestic” or for “other” purposes is an important distinction for customs because importers of goods “for domestic purposes” must pay customs duties ranging from eight per cent to 9.5 per cent of the declared value of the goods, while goods for “other” purposes are duty-free when imported into Canada.

While the Court of Quebec had just ruled in the Stamatopoulos v. Revenu Québec case, the Tax Court of Canada, through Justice Rip, also made its ruling on February 1, 2016 substantially in favour of the taxpayer in SNF L.P. v. Her Majesty The Queen.