Tax & Trade Blog
Search
-
Time Bomb Ticking on Canadian Home Construction Industry
Feb 03 2020 - They say that the “devil is in the details”. An individual buying a run-down house, fixing it up, and living in it a while, and then selling for a tidy income tax exempt profit (the house being the individual’s principal residence) sou...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/time-bomb-ticking-on-canadian-home-construction-industry.html -
HUGE Change for Directors’ Liability Assessments?
Jan 21 2020 - A recent case has hopefully clarified a huge issue for so called "derivative assessment" of directors and other person potentially at risk for a corporate taxpayer's tax liability. ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/huge-change-for-directors-liability-assessments.html -
Incoterms® 2020 Changes Incoming!
Nov 21 2019 - The International Chamber of Commerce’s (“ICC”) Incoterms® are relied on across the world by businesses to simplify and standardize the delivery of internationally shipped goods. The terms function so that the obligations on both buyers and sellers a...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/incoterms-2020-changes-incoming.html -
The Power of the Net Worth Assessment
Jun 26 2019 - When assessing a taxpayer’s income, the CRA has an often-overlooked auditing power that allows it to consider a taxpayer’s net worth at specific points in time and use it to calculate the taxpayer’s unreported income. This is called a ‘net-worth asse...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/the-power-of-the-net-worth-assessment.html -
Are POS Machine Providers Making Taxable Supplies?
Jun 17 2019 - A recent audit initiative of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has targeted financial service intermediaries – and in particular, member service providers (“MSPs”) that are engaged in business in the credit card/electronic payment industry. These...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/are-pos-machine-providers-making-taxable-supplies.html -
Thinking of Fixing your Books? Don't!
May 29 2019 - The CRA has a number of rules, found in the Income Tax Act (“ITA”), and the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”) requiring taxpayers to keep books and records, and to keep them available for audit and inspection for up to seven years after the current year. The ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/thinking-of-fixing-your-books-don-t.html -
Ontario Tobacco Tax Update 2019
Apr 09 2019 - The Ontario Ministry of Finance is continuing to “lead the charge” against Ontario tobacco wholesalers – turning the industry upside down with assessments worth tens of millions of dollars for failure to collect the Ontario Provincial Tobacco Tax (PT...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/ontario-tobacco-tax-update-2019.html -
CRA Extraditions: The Long Arm of the Law
Mar 13 2019 - When it comes to policing Canada’s voluntary tax compliance system (for income taxes and the GST/HST), the CRA has several effective enforcement weapons in its arsenal. One weapon that one does not often see employed is international extradition of i...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/cra-extraditions-the-long-arm-of-the-law.html -
Exempt or Taxable, That is the Question
Jan 24 2019 - Should you really dispute the CRA’s finding that your supplies are taxable and not exempt? Many of the “exempt” versus “taxable” cases that we see from the GST/HST perspective put the recipient (the one usually arguing for “exempt” treatment) and th...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/exempt-or-taxable-that-is-the-question.html -
Tax Debts Complicate Retail Loans Made to Business Owners
Jan 15 2019 - The recent decision of the Federal Court of Canada (the “FC”) in Canada v. Toronto Dominion Bank, 2018 FC 538, (“TD Bank”) could make it much more difficult for business owners to get personal loans and mortgages. ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/tax-debts-complicate-retail-loans-made-to-business-owners.html -
Claiming ITCs Before or After Making of Taxable Supplies
Jan 09 2019 - Subsection 141.01(2) of the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”) deems a property or service acquired for use in a business to be for use in commercial activities only to the extent that it is used in the making of taxable or zero-rated supplies. On the other hand...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/claiming-itcs-before-or-after-making-of-taxable-supplies.html -
National GST/HST Project on Staffing Agencies?
Jan 03 2019 - Recent experience suggests that the CRA may have an ongoing project (internal code for either tax evasion special investigations, or civil auditing of possible sham transactions – or both) in the Staffing Agency context. While the following example ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/national-gst-hst-project-on-staffing-agencies.html -
ONCA: Late Invoice Satisfied Tax Disclosure Obligations
Dec 28 2018 - Section 223(1) of the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”) requires a registered supplier to indicate clearly on its receipt or invoice to a purchaser/recipient of supply the consideration paid or payable by the purchaser and the GST/HST payable in respect of the ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/onca-late-invoice-satisfied-tax-disclosure-obligations.html -
Bare Trusts Are Not Always A Non-Entity For ETA Purposes
Dec 18 2018 - A New Housing Rebate (“NHR”) is available under ss. 254(2) of the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”) to enable those who qualify to obtain a rebate of GST/HST paid on the purchase of a new residential property. To qualify para. 254(2)(b) says a “particular indiv...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/bare-trusts-are-not-always-a-non-entity-for-eta-purposes.html -
Canadian Energy Traders & GST/HST Collection Obligations
Dec 14 2018 - Canadian energy traders often misunderstand their tax collection obligations for the GST/HST and other sales taxes. The issue may relate to a 2014 administrative decision by the CRA to begin to take a very restrictive approach to the application of ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/canadian-energy-traders-gst-hst-collection-obligations.html -
Ontario Continues to Audit Tobacco Wholesalers
Dec 11 2018 - The Ontario Ministry of Finance continues to turn the Ontario tobacco industry upside down – continuing to assess companies for failure to collect the Ontario Provincial Tobacco Tax (PTT) on sales of cigars and other non-cigarette tobacco (loose toba...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/ontario-continues-to-audit-tobacco-wholesalers.html -
Don’t Forget About GST When Resolving Legal Disputes
Dec 06 2018 - Section 182 of the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”) generally deems any payment made to a registrant as a consequence of a breach, modification, or cancellation of an agreement (other than as consideration for a supply), to be a taxable supply. This rule, in e...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/don-t-forget-about-gst-when-resolving-legal-disputes.html -
TCC Complicates Tax Status of Credit Card/Payment Processing
Oct 25 2018 - The Canadian government has chosen to make many financial services tax exempt under the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”). In particular, under the definition of “financial service” in ss. 123(1) of the ETA, a service is an exempt financial service where it is ...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/tcc-complicates-tax-status-of-credit-card-payment-processing.html -
Determining Place of Supply When A Contract Is Silent
Jun 21 2018 - Section 165 of the Excise Tax Act imposes GST/HST on taxable supplies "made in Canada". A supply is deemed to be made in Canada if “delivered or made available” to the supply’s recipient in Canada (para. 142(1)(a)), but deemed to be made outside Cana...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/determining-place-of-supply-when-a-contract-is-silent.html -
Broker’s Activity re Business Sale Not Exempt “Arranging For” Service
Jun 08 2018 - The term "arranging for", which is not statutory defined, is generally interpreted to include activities performed by financial intermediaries such as agents, brokers and dealers in financial instruments. If it is determined that an intermediary is p...
https://www.taxandtradelaw.com/Tax-Trade-Blog/brokers-activity-re-business-sale-not-exempt-arranging-for-service.html