A produce retailer that was targeted by provincial tax authorities won a legal battle after the Quebec Access to information tribunal held that Revenu Quebec must turn over information to the company as “Crown priority” cannot be invoked by the agency in access to information matters.
Taxpayers are entitled to use the mark-to-market method to compute income for federal tax purposes if it provides a more accurate picture of a taxpayer’s income, ruled the Federal Court of Appeal.
The federal appeal court decision bolsters the possibility for taxpayers to use methods to compute income that are not forbidden by the Income Tax Act (Act), affirms Canada Revenue Agency’s administrative position that allows regulated financial institutions to tax derivatives on a mark-to-market basis, and may open the door to allow financial accounting to become more influential in determining what constitutes an acceptable method of computing income from business, according to tax experts.
The federal financial watchdog has given Canada’s big banks an extension to implement global reforms that establish more consistent disclosure rules to allow them to focus and devote the “significant level of effort required” to implement new international accounting standards for financial instruments.
An action plan unveiled by Revenue Quebec to improve its dealings with taxpayers after the Quebec ombudsman accused the provincial tax department of becoming more intractable and less respectful is viewed with cautious optimism by business and tax professionals.
Revenue Quebec was ordered to pay $2.4 million, including $1 million in punitive damages, to a Montreal business after the Quebec Court of Appeal found that the provincial fiscal authority abused its powers and acted maliciously and in bad faith.
A “highly reprehensible” and illegal probe by the Canada Revenue Agency that failed to draw the distinction between a civil tax audit and a criminal tax investigation has put into jeopardy several tax evasion criminal cases involving Quebec construction companies and corruption charges against former federal civil servants, according to tax experts.
The Quebec provincial government should follow Manitoba’s lead and eliminate the business tax for small and medium-sized business with net taxable earnings under $500,000 so long as they invest the amounts saved in employment, innovation, and production, suggested the head of a Montreal accounting firm at a tax conference.
An unprecedented international collaboration on tax reform that recently unveiled sweeping plans to crack down on aggressive tax planning by multinational companies has the potential of becoming the biggest shake-up in international tax rules in nearly a century, according to tax professionals.
Barely a month after the European Commission ruled that Starbucks Corp. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV benefited from illegal tax deals from the Dutch and Luxembourg governments, cross-border tax avoidance will be the subject of yet more intense scrutiny after European Union lawmakers decided recently to quiz 11 multinational corporations over sweet-heart tax deals with governments.
A blistering report by Quebec ombudsman recently accused Revenue Quebec of becoming more intransigent and less respectful report towards taxpayers, prompting an immediate reaction from the provincial finance minister who ordered the tax department to come up with a “concrete action plan” to remedy the “unacceptable” situation.
An international think tank is calling for tax administrations to have the fullest possible access to suspicious transaction reports received by financial intelligence units to ensure tax compliance and to tackle serious crimes as tax evasion, bribery, corruption, money laundering and terrorism financing.