Tax & Trade Blog

On June 1, 2022, Quebec’s Bill 96 amended the Charter of the French Language (the “French Charter”) to include changes to the use of English trademarks on product packaging.  Effective June 1, 2025, a registered trademark is generally exempt from the French language requirements (meaning it does not have to be in French).

While this largely codifies existing jurisprudence, accompanying amendments to the Regulation respecting the language of commerce and business (the “Regulation Amendments”) will require additional French wording in some cases, also effective June 1, 2025.

On October 18, 2024, the Department of Finance launched its remission process to allow Canadian businesses to apply for relief or refund from surtaxes levied at Chinese products in an effort to level the playing field for Canadian businesses and workers.  Eligible Canadian businesses can apply to the Minister of Finance and present their plea on how the surtax policies have unduly burdened their business operations.

Businesses that request remission prior to November 8, 2024, will receive priority in application processing, while subsequent submissions will be processed thereafter in the usual course.

Over the past several months, Global Affairs Canada has been in the process of consultingwith Canadians on the operation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (“CUSMA” – also known in the US as the “USMCA”) ahead of the first joint review of the agreement set to take place in 2026.

As we have previously blogged about here, CUSMA is the current iteration in a history of “free trade” agreements between Canada, the United States and Mexico, and it includes built-in formal six-year joint reviews between its member nations to consider improvements and possible extensions. 

On October 16, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) announced an Order in Expiry Review RR-2023-007 (the “Order”), continuing its finding of material injury in respect of the dumping of Carbon Steel Welded Pipe originating in or exported from Pakistan, the Philippines, Türkiye (Turkey), and Vietnam (the “Subject Goods”). 

The Subject Goods

The Subject Goods are defined as:

As we have previously written about here and here, the Canada Border Services Agency (“CBSA”) has been in the process of rolling out their “CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management” (CARM) project. 

Despite recent concerns over more delays, the scheduled CARM cutover period is now underway and the full functionality of the CARM Client Portal is set to be released on October 21, 2024.

Global Affairs Canada (“GAC”) has announced it is now accepting applications for the 2025-year tariff rate quotas (the “TRQs”) for most dairy products (including cheese and ice cream), and poultry (including eggs).  Applications opened October 1, 2024, and the deadline to apply is November 15, 2024.

What is a TRQ?

On October 7, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) issued a notice that it was beginning an expiry review in respect of certain hot-rolled carbon steel plate and high-strength low-alloy steel plate originating in or exported from the Republic of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Romania (the “Subject Goods”).  On October 8, 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 September 19, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) announced an Order in Expiry Review RR-2023-006 (the “Order”), continuing its finding of material injury in respect of the dumping and subsidizing of Cold-Rolled Steel originating in or exported from China, South Korea, and Vietnam (the “Subject Goods”). 

The Subject Goods

The Subject Goods are defined as:

In yet another interesting legal battle involving Uber, the Ontario Court of Appeal has confirmed that even when a party overpaid on GST/HST, there is no right to recover that tax from the person or company that charged that tax.

This means the only redress is through the refund or rebate provisions in the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”).

The Government of Canada’s website cautions returning travellers to “Be sure . . . declare everything”.  However, problems can arise, and the Canada Border Security Agency (“CBSA”) could seize your goods like jewellery.

Having one’s jewellery, especially rings and necklaces of sentimental or significant value, seized can be an incredibly stressful situation. Our previous blog considered this subject, and we will provide you with further insight into the appeal process.

On October 1, 2024, the Canadian government released the final list of which goods will be subject to the 25% surtax on steel and aluminium products coming from the People’s Republic of China effective October 22, 2024 (the “Final List”).  

The Final List is rather broad, and includes many items of iron, steel, or aluminum that could be used by manufacturers across various industries, including ingots, flat-rolled coils, bars and rods, extrusion shapes and sections, tubes pipes and hollow profiles, etc.

On August 21, 2024, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (the “CITT”) issued an Order in Expiry Review RR-2023-005 (the “Order”), continuing its finding of material injury in respect of the dumping and subsidizing of sucker rods originating in or exported from the People’s Republic of China (the “Subject Goods”). 

More detail, including the full definition of the Subject Goods, can be found in the Expiry Review.

One thing that usually goes undiscussed when contemplating appeals to the Tax Court of Canada (“TCC”) is what happens if a taxpayer loses.

One thing that CAN happen is a “costs award” against the taxpayer, which is where a TCC judge orders the taxpayer to pay a portion of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) costs in defending the appeal – which puts a significant premium on understanding one’s “chances of success” BEFORE filing the appeal!

Unexpected Costs

As we have previously written about here, the CRA has been modernizing its electronic services.  As part of these changes, the CRA has updated the GST/HST e-filing returns to require additional lines of detail.  Businesses e-filing their GST/HST returns need to understand this new change and complete their GST/HST e-filing returns properly!

As of May 13, 2024, registrants e-filing their GST/HST returns have been encountering the new forms, and the CRA reminded registrants of the change in its Excise GST/HST News – No. 117. 

Those who previously filed paper returns will immediately recognize these additional details as lines from the paper returns which have now been migrated over to the e-filing system.