THE FIRST HURDLE: PROVING YOU ARE CARRYING ON A BUSINESS!
The Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) continues to scrutinize business expenses claimed by taxpayers, particularly where business losses are involved. These audits can impact Independent Sales Contractors (“ISCs”) of direct selling companies.
While ISCs are responsible for claiming their own business expenses, the CRA may go further than auditing expenses and can also question whether the ISC is really “carrying on business” at all. Two recent Tax Court of Canada (“TCC”) decisions in the direct selling space demonstrate the tests the TCC applies.
This is the second in our series of "GST 101 Reports", written with a view to educating our readers on the basics of Canada's GST/HST system, and building towards more in-depth discussions to come.
This Report deals with the concept of "Residency" which is a bedrock issue when determining whether businesses are required to be registered for Canada's GST/HST System.
Why is Residency Relevant? (Special Non-Resident Rule)
RETAINING A LAWYER AT AUDIT OR ASSESSMENT A WISE DECISION!
In my 35+ years of experience, I have seen the tax world evolve quite a bit. It used to be that tax or trade lawyers were engaged very early on in most disputes. Usually at the time of audit. Overtime, we have seen clients try different approaches, from beginning to use non-lawyer accountants or customs brokers for dispute resolution, to (most recently) relying on AI to fight the dispute for them.
