Canadian Tax Court: proposals for better caseload management.

• Author: Penney, David M.

December 14, 2011

On December 14, 2011, TEI President David M. Penney submitted the following comments to the Canadian Department of Finance in response to a consultation about proposals to improve the caseload management of the Tax Court of Canada. The submission, which took the form of a letter to Brian Ernewein, General Director of the Canadian Department of Finance's Tax Policy Branch, was prepared under the aegis of TEI's Canadian Income Tax Committee, whose chair is Carmine A. Arcari of The Royal Bank of Canada. Contributing substantially to the development of TEI's comments was David V. Daubaras of GE Canada Limited. Also contributing was Marvin E. Lamb of Imperial Oil Limited. Jeffery P. Rasmussen, TEI Senior Tax Counsel, serves as liaison to the Canadian Income Tax Committee and coordinated the preparation of TEI's comments.

On November 10, 2011, the Minister of Finance released proposals to amend both the Tax Court of Canada Act and the Income Tax Act of Canada, to improve the caseload management of the Tax Court of Canada. Tax Executives Institute is pleased to submit the following comments and recommendations in respect of the proposals.

Tax Executives Institute (TEI) is the preeminent association of business tax executives worldwide. The Institute's 7,000 professionals manage the tax affairs of 3,000 of the leading companies in North America, Europe, and Asia. Canadians constitute 10 percent of TEI's membership, with our Canadian members belonging to chapters in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, which together make up one of our nine geographic regions, and must contend daily with the planning and compliance aspects of Canada's business tax laws, including appeals of tax issues and potential litigation in the Tax Court. Many of our non-Canadian members (including those in Europe and Asia) work for companies with substantial activities in Canada. The comments set forth in this letter reflect the views of the Institute as a whole, but more particularly those of our Canadian constituency.

TEI commends the government for proposing legislation to accord the Tax Court greater flexibility in managing its caseload. Specifically, we endorse and support:

* Increasing the monetary limits for access to the informal appeal procedure. (1)

* Allowing the Tax Court to dispose of issues raised in an appeal of an assessment separately so that issues can be resolved independently from others and to permit the Minister of National Revenue...