An oft-overlooked component of Canada’s Excise Tax Act (“ETA”) involves the special registration rules which apply to taxi businesses – in place well before the advent of ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft.
CRA has recently updated its administrative policies on these registration rules to reflect changes made to the ETA on this issue back in 2017! The new changes update CRA’s published position to incorporate commercial ride-sharing services within the definition of taxi business and is indicative of the risk in relying on such positions which could be out of date and offside current law.