Articles 2020

This article discusses the proposed amendments to the employee life and health trust regime in the Income Tax Act, introduced on May 27, 2019. The changes to the current regime are outlined, as well as the proposed new rules to facilitate conversions of health and welfare trusts into employee life and health trusts

The FCA clarifies that section 16.2 of the Tax Court of Canada Act does not prohibit partners from continuing appeals on issues that were raised but discontinued by the partnership.

This is the first installment of the OBA Tax Section's Q&A series with women lawyers in tax. The objective of this series is to give insight into the tax law career possibilities and practice areas that women can have, to give advice to junior tax lawyers or students who may be considering tax, and to shine the spotlight on women leaders in the tax profession. In this quarter we feature a Q&A with Kathleen Penny, a well-regarded and brilliant partner at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.

In Kufsky v. The Queen, the Tax Court of Canada upheld a section 160 tax assessment of a shareholder who received a dividend from a non-arm’s length corporation. This article provides an overview of the case’s key facts and the Court’s decision.

After several years of advocacy on the part of the OBA, the Law Society of Ontario has introduced a Certified Specialist Program for Taxation Law. Read more about the announcement of this prestigious new Certified Specialist Program, the four potential routes to certification for tax lawyers, and where to find more information on becoming a Certified Specialist in Taxation Law.

This article summarizes the proposed changes to the employee stock option rules, introduced in Budget 2019. It will outline the current legislative scheme in the Income Tax Act (the “Act”), discuss the proposed changes including an example to demonstrate the application of the proposals, and recap the CBA/CPA Canada Joint Committee on Taxation’s related submissions.

In a recent view of the CRA (2019-0806761I7), the CRA considered whether a late-filed “bump” designation pursuant to paragraph 88(1)(d) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) on a vertical amalgamation could be made outside the normal reassessment period in relation to a transfer pricing adjustment that was made during the six- or seven-year extended reassessment period. The CRA’s comments provide welcome guidance.

Author Margaret Nixon, of Stikeman Elliott LLP, reviews the recent decision of the Tax Court of Canada in Prairielane Holdings Ltd. v. The Queen, 2019 TCC 157. In this case, the Court considers the deemed association rule in subsection 256(2.1) of the Income Tax Act and provides useful guidance on the legal principles that are applicable in determining whether one of the main reasons for the separate existence of two or more corporations is the reduction of tax.

The GST/HST holding company rules have long been hotly contested between the CRA and GST/HST registrants. The changes proposed by the Department of Finance may help to provide some clarity to this area, however, the new property test for parent corporations will likely limit the application of these previously broad rules.

This paper surveys a host of potential issues that can arise when a taxpayer disposes of their principal residence following the 2016 amendments to the Income Tax Act. Starting with an overview of the current legislative rules, the paper then goes on to highlight problems including having a non-resident owner, Trusts and principal properties, and dual Canadian-US citizens selling their principal residence in Canada.