Tax & Trade Blog

In an interesting customs case continuing the Canada Border Service Agency’s (“CBSA”) assault on toy replica firearms, the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) pointed out that allegations of bias leveled at the CBSA and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) during the appeal process are serious and come with a “correspondingly heavy burden on the party alleging bias to prove the allegations”.  This is not good news for taxpayers and importers who often come to us feeling that the CBSA or the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) has pre-judged their particular appeals, with the end-result in mind.

After 35 years of practice in Tax and Trade, one thing I am sure of is that there are no “magic” answers for dealing with administrative delay by the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) or the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”).  

A recent decision of the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (“CITT”) underscores this problem, and leaves taxpayers and importers in some potentially hard situations when faced by governmental inaction.

For frequent travelers between Canada and the United States, the opportunity to save time at the border and make use of the NEXUS entry process is alluring.  Applying for NEXUS is a labour-intensive process, and after submitting some applicants may be surprised to find their applications rejected.  Not all hope is lost, however.  In this Report we review appeal rights, and why specialized assistance will usually be required, if results are to be maximized.  

Why was my NEXUS application denied?