Department of Finance draft Tax Court of Canada legislation

We have discussed the Department of Finance’s (“Department”) proposed changes to the Tax Court of Canada Act. The Department posits that these changes will improve tax disputes between taxpayers and the Canada Revenue Agency increasing efficiency and access to justice. Although we agree — along with the Ontario Bar Association — that the tax dispute process and procedure would benefit from some change, we believe that the Department should not implement some of the proposed changes and the Department should be very careful in implementing some of the other proposed changes. Our view is on all fours with the Ontario Bar Associations submissions which we helped draft.

On June 8, 2012, the Department released draft legislation to change the Tax Court of Canada Act. The Department’s press release indicates that the draft legislative proposals take the comments it received from stakeholders into consideration. In particular, the Department released 2 documents: (1) Legislative Proposals Related to Improving the Caseload Management of the Tax Court of Canada; and (2) Explanatory Notices to Legislative Proposals to Amend the Income Tax Act Related to Improving the Caseload Management of the Tax Court of Canada. The Department invites stakeholders to provide comments on the draft legislation within 30-days i.e., on or before July 9, 2012.

We have requested that the Department provide copies of all submissions it received from stakeholders through the Access to Information Act. We expect to receive disclosure shortly. In addition, we are in the process of reviewing the Department’s draft legislation and working with the Ontario Bar Association to provide a response.

We expect to provide readers with another update shortly.