Tax

  • September 30, 2026

    Reviewing the New England Clean Energy Connect litigation filings

    On Sept. 8, 2026, the parties to the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) agreements filed federal complaints concerning Hydro-Québec’s interruption of deliveries to Massachusetts during the first two months of the 20-year agreement.

  • September 29, 2026

    WeirFoulds welcomes associates Adam Nangini and Natasha Barrett

    Adam Nangini and Natasha Barrett have joined WeirFoulds as associates in its corporate and regulatory practice groups.

  • September 29, 2026

    Federal Court of Appeal clarifies rules for CRA requests for unnamed persons

    The lengthy decision in Canada (National Revenue) v. Zeifmans LLP, 2026 FCA 147 in part involves a detailed analysis of the legal concepts of abuse of process and improper collateral attack as well as the relevant decisions in Canada (Customs and Revenue Agency) v. Artistic Ideas Inc., 2005 FCA 68 and Redeemer Foundation v. Minister of National Revenue, 2008 SCC 46.

  • September 28, 2026

    Intergenerational business transfer capital gains exception: What the vendor gives up matters

    Section 84.1 of the Income Tax Act, the intergenerational transfer rules, has since 2024 contained a working exception for sales of a private company to a child’s corporation. Paragraph 84.1(2)(e) deems the vendor and the purchaser corporation to deal at arm’s length where the conditions of either ss. 84.1(2.31) or (2.32) are met, which switches off the deemed dividend and leaves the vendor with a capital gain eligible for the lifetime capital gains exemption — $1,275,000 for 2026. The conditions are not tax conditions. They are a statutory description of a vendor who has left the business, and the vendor’s counsel, not the accountant, is the one who has to make the client match it.

  • September 28, 2026

    Business valuations and M&A during tariff uncertainty

    The United States has launched tariffs under the Trump regime, and possibly future regimes, to counteract its decline as the world’s leading superpower. These tariffs impact valuation of any business engaged in global trade. To value such businesses, one must consider where the business operates, and whether that jurisdiction adjusted (i.e., Australia or Ireland, etc.), complied or negotiated a deal (i.e., the EU, Japan, U.K. and others), or retaliated (i.e., China or Canada).

  • September 25, 2026

    Co-founder terminations: The importance of good paper signed on incorporation

    Barry Anthony Cullain owned one-third of an Ontario elevator maintenance business and was its vice-president of operations. The other two shareholders each held a third. While an acquisition financing was closing, they proposed to buy his shares. The financing failed. They took him off the payroll and said he had retired.

  • September 25, 2026

    Supreme Court’s Côté J. an impactful ‘out of the box’ thinker: law professor

    Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté has significantly impacted the top court’s jurisprudence and culture since her appointment almost 12 years ago, says University of Alberta constitutional law professor Gerard Kennedy.

  • September 25, 2026

    Exclusive: Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté mulls her post-bench future

    Supreme Court of Canada Justice Suzanne Côté is thinking about what life after the bench might look like, she tells Law360 Canada. The court’s impactful and most prolific judge, who turned 68 this week with no apparent loss of drive or energy, says she is healthy and still loves the work that has earned her a reputation as a trailblazer and original thinker.

  • September 24, 2026

    PBO projects $4.5B in revenue from NDP-proposed high-income tax brackets

    A proposal to introduce three new federal income tax brackets for high earners would generate an additional $4.5 billion in net federal revenue over the 2026-27 to 2030-31 period, according to an estimate released by the Parliamentary Budget Office on Sept. 22.

  • September 24, 2026

    On appeal, tax courts look for material errors, not just procedural fairness: Lessons from Siam v. Canada

    Part one of this series examined how the Federal Court of Appeal in Siam v. Canada, 2026 FCA 91 applied the Mpamugo v. The Queen, 2016 TCC 215 framework to a taxpayer’s claim that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) never sent his original Notice of Assessment.

  • September 24, 2026

    The principle of equal theft

    I used to advise clients who were involved in shareholder disputes. I would always ask whether the shareholders had been less than angelic in their dealings with each other and the tax department. Although businesspeople tend not to judge people who only steal from the tax department to be all that bad, for the sake of simplicity I will refer to both shareholders who steal from each other, and shareholders who steal from the tax department, as crooks.

  • September 23, 2026

    Burden initially on taxpayer to prove CRA never sent Notice of Assessment: Lessons from Siam v. Canada

    This is part one of a two-part series examining Siam v. Canada, 2026 FCA 91, in which the Federal Court of Appeal addressed a recurring evidentiary problem in tax reassessment litigation: what a taxpayer must actually prove when arguing that the Canada Revenue Agency never sent an original Notice of Assessment.

  • September 23, 2026

    The meaning of ‘effective’: Canada’s new AML compliance-program standard

    Since March 26, 2026, every reporting entity under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act must under the new s. 9.6(1.1) “ensure that the program is reasonably designed, risk-based and effective.” Its schedule entry is a very serious violation with a $20 million per violation ceiling for an entity ($4 million for a person). Little has been written about what s. 9.6(1.1) actually adds: an express program-level performance standard.

  • September 22, 2026

    P.E.I. to dismantle IRAC, replace it with ‘specialized bodies’

    Prince Edward Island will move to dismantle a 35-year-old quasi-judicial tribunal and replace it with two new decision-making bodies that will continue to deal with various appeals and disputes.

  • September 22, 2026

    Earnouts: Where sellers should spend their negotiating capital

    In mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions, there is a constant struggle between the vendor and purchaser regarding risk allocation. This tension often arises from uncertainty regarding future performance, issues identified during due diligence and disagreements regarding value. One common mechanism for bridging that gap is an earnout, which makes part of the purchase price contingent on the post-closing performance of the target business.

  • September 21, 2026

    Ottawa’s flagship bill on ‘Building Canada Strong’ aims for labour reforms, faster project reviews

    The Carney government says its proposed “Building Canada Strong” legislation and supporting Cabinet directive will ensure that federal reviews and decisions on major project proposals are completed within one year of a “comprehensive” submission by the project’s proponents. The 243-page Building Canada Strong Act (Bill C-39) was introduced in the House of Commons Sept. 21 by Transport Minister and Government House leader Steven MacKinnon.

  • September 16, 2026

    Ottawa & judges dispute if Carney gov’t gave meaningful effect to judicial pay commission’s work

    A behind-the-scenes bid by federal chief justices to make future recommendations from the federal independent judicial pay commission process binding on Ottawa is on hold as representatives of Canada’s 1,200 federal judges and Federal Court associate judges sue the Carney government for allegedly not giving “meaningful effect” to the work and non-binding advice of the latest quadrennial Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission (Giardini Commission.)

  • September 15, 2026

    Carney unveils tax break to spur $1T in investment, announces airport privatization

    Today, Prime Minister Mark Carney introduced the new Productivity Mega Deduction at the first Canada Investment Summit in Toronto. The tax incentive will increase the share of assets covered from 15 per cent to more than 65 per cent. He also announced that Canada will seek private investment through long-term concessions to operate the country’s four largest airports.

  • September 15, 2026

    EI premium rate unchanged for 2027, but maximum insurable earnings rise

    The employment insurance (EI) premium rate for employees will remain at $1.64 per $100 of insurable earnings in 2027, but the maximum annual insurable earnings threshold will rise to $70,800 from $68,900 in 2026, the Canada Employment Insurance Commission has announced.

  • September 15, 2026

    Canada copied U.K. employee ownership incentive but skipped its guardrails

    On Nov. 26, 2025, British MP and then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves stood up in the House of Commons and cut Britain’s employee ownership trust relief in half. “I will reduce that relief to 50 per cent,” the chancellor said, “retaining a strong incentive for employee-owned companies.”

  • September 14, 2026

    Ottawa to prioritize advance tax rulings for major projects

    The federal government has announced that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will prioritize advance income tax ruling requests related to investments of $1 billion or more in Canada.

  • September 10, 2026

    Who can deduct tax dispute legal fees? Kruivitsky v. The King

    In general, a person can dispute a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) tax assessment by first filing a Notice of Objection. The dispute may make its way to the Tax Court of Canada and beyond and the respective legal expenses are deductible from income.

  • September 08, 2026

    Federal judges’ legal tab so far tops $1M as they take constitutional pay dispute to court

    Ottawa has agreed that the federal judiciary reasonably incurred more than $1 million in legal fees and disbursements to participate in the independent quadrennial process that is meant to depoliticize determinations of federal judicial remuneration and avoid pay disputes.

  • September 08, 2026

    BD&P adds Gary Sharma as associate in tax group

    Gary Sharma has joined Burnet Duckworth & Palmer LLP (BD&P) as an associate in its tax group in Calgary.

  • September 04, 2026

    Denial of EI to mothers laid off around maternity, parental leave unconstitutional: court

    Employment insurance rules that deny regular benefits to women who lose their jobs shortly before, during or after maternity and parental leave violate the Charter’s equality guarantee, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled.

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