Tax & Trade Blog

As we have blogged about here and here, the CRA is after a whole swath of residential homeowners who are finding themselves being taxed on the sale of their new or used residential properties, after substantially renovating them.

A recent decision of the Tax Court of Canada (“TCC”) in Bryan v. The King, 2024 TCC 108 highlights the problems that homeowners face when going into these ventures with possible “dual motivations”. 

As we have blogged here and here, dealing with and appealing Director’s Liability Assessments for GST/HST purposes or source withholding purposes on the Income Tax side is generally an uphill battle. 

The Tax Court’s recent decision in Donaldson v. The King (2022 TCC 159) underscores that a corporation dealing with business down-turns by holding off on paying the CRA its required remittances is a losing strategy!

A T4A slip is an essential Canadian tax form that businesses must issue to contractors and other self-employed individuals when payments are made for services rendered within Canada.

For Direct Selling businesses, properly issuing T4A slips and understanding withholding requirements are crucial for ensuring smooth, efficient operations and compliance with the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”).

On August 26, 2024, the Canadian government announced a series of new measures to support Canadian workers in an effort to enhance the country’s  electrical vehicle (“EV”) industry in domestic, North American, and global markets. 

This follows a 30 day consultation period in July addressing allegedly unfair Chinese EV trade practices, as we previously reported here, and the imposition of similar trade remedies by the EU and the US.

As we have previously reported on here and here, Canada has continued to expand its economic sanctions on Russian nationals, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, targeting individuals and entities believed to be linked to the Russian regime.

Canada’s sanctions have been primarily imposed under the Special Economic Measures (Russia) Regulations (the “Russia Regulations”), the Special Economic Measure Act (“SEMA”), and through other similar regulations targeting persons in Belarus, Ukraine and most recently Moldova.  In total these sanctions include asset freezes and financial prohibitions, and even apply to certain listed persons set out in the Schedules within the regulations.  These lists change frequently, are hard to get off of, and have impacted more than 2,900 individuals and entities.

The CBSA has historically requested password information from travelers in order to search their smartphones, personal computers and tablets, on the basis that these devices are searchable like all other “goods” coming into Canada.

The Ontario Court of Appeal in The King v. Pike (2024 ONCA 608) has determined, however, that the CBSA’s routine searches of such electronic devices is contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”) and is unconstitutional!

On July 18, 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) issued a Notice of Conclusion of its investigation in the ongoing Expiry Review of certain Carbon Steel Welded Pipe 1 (“CSWP-1”) originating in or exported from the People’s Republic of China (the “Subject Goods”).  

The CBSA determined that the expiry of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal’s (“CITT”) order dated March 28, 2019, in Expiry Review No. RR-2018-001 is likely to result in the continuation or resumption of (i) dumping of the Subject Goods and (ii) subsidizing of the Subject Goods.

More detail, including a full definition of the Subject Goods can be found in the Statement of Reasons for the determination.

Over the past several years, the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) has been in the midst of a digital service transformation.  Like the CBSA’s “CARM” project, which we previously discussed here, this initiative appears to be a response to the Canadian government’s “digital first” policy, which aims to build digital delivery into government operations and services.

While the CRA now provides Notices of Assessment electronically through online portals including “My Account” and “My Business Account”, access to such documents remains difficult for many, especially non-Canadian residents who may be unfamiliar with the Canadian tax system.

On August 12, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) issued a notice that it was beginning an expiry review in respect of certain Circular Copper Tube originating in or exported from the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Hellenic Republic (Greece), the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea and the United Mexican States (Mexico) (the “Subject Goods”).  On August 13, 2024, the Canada Border Services Agency (the “CBSA”) similarly gave notice of the initiation of their parallel expiry review investigation.

More details on the technical definition of the Subject Goods can be found here.

On July 2, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) issued a preliminary determination of injury, concluding that there was evidence that the alleged dumping of certain concrete reinforcing bar from Bulgaria, Thailand and the UAE has caused material injury to the domestic industry.

Background Information

On May 6, 2024, following the initiation of an anti-dumping investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency (the “CBSA”), the CITT initiated a preliminary injury inquiry in respect of alleged dumping of concrete reinforcing bar, which we covered in a previous blog post. 

When a person (whether a corporation or natural individual) crosses a border to perform services, Canada and the US have detailed taxing rules, aimed at ensuring that the person entering the other country properly reports those activities.  These rules often come with mandatory “withholding taxes“ on the payer of the services resident in the country where the services are being performed.

Canada has recently fine-tuned its position on Regulation 105 withholding, which may come as a surprise to many involved in the cross-border provision of services.