Draft Canadian legislation on notices of objection and appeals.

• Position: Tax Executives Institute

On November 11, 1994, Tax Executives Institute submitted the following comments to the Canadian Department of Finance on draft legislation relating to Notices of Objection and Appeals by large corporations. The comments, which took the form of a letter from TEI President Linda B. Burke to Paul Martin, Minister of Finance, were developed under the aegis of its Canadian Income Tax Committee, whose chair is John J. Marczynski of Abitibi-Price Inc. Contributing substantially to the development of TEI's comments was C. Graham Kennedy of MacMillan Bloedel Limited, TEI's Vice President for Canadian Affairs.

On behalf of Tax Executives Institute, I am writing to comment on the draft legislation in respect of Income Tax Objections and Appeals released on September 26, 1994. The draft's proposed immediate effective date and the retrospective effect on returns and assessments filed prior to September 27, 1994, present onerous and, in some cases, unnecessary filing burdens on large corporate taxpayers. We urge the minister to consider retracting the proposed legislation and re-proposing it after taking account of comments from the business community. At a minimum, the effective date of the legislation should be delayed, preferably until the date of Royal Assent. Moreover, transition rules should be provided to obviate duplicate filings of notices of objection by taxpayers compelled to comply in good faith with the proposed legislation and its final version.

Background

Tax Executives Institute, Inc. is an international organization of approximately 5,000 professionals who are responsible--in an executive, administrative, or managerial capacity--for the tax affairs of the corporations and other businesses by which they are employed. TEI's members represent more than 2,800 of the leading corporations in Canada and the United States. Canadians make up approximately 10 percent of TEI's membership, with our Canadian members belonging to chapters in Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver, which together make up one of our nine geographic regions. In addition, a substantial number of our U.S. members work for companies with significant Canadian sales or operations. TEI's membership includes representatives from most major industries, including manufacturing, distributing, wholesaling and retailing; real estate; transportation; financial; telecommunications; and natural resources (including timber and integrated oil companies). The comments set forth in this...