What kinds of cases are you looking for?    < Previous Case Collections — holding off on collecting on incorrect GST/HST assessmentGST/HST and income tax — real estate agent built home for personal useGST/HST — advertising servicesGST — air travel commissionsGST/HST — assessment of real estate agent on sale of condo was statute-barredGST — builder built home for personal useGST — builder of new home was not who CRA thought it wasGST/HST — Cancelling interest on "wash transaction"GST — cleaning up years of failure to charge GST on management feesGST — community centre constructionGST/HST — convincing CRA that it was too late to assessGST — corporation providing health care servicesGST/HST — couple built one home for sale and one to live inGST/HST — credit for net tax wrongly remittedGST — dental clinicGST — directors' liability (car dealership)GST — directors' liability (company dissolved)GST — director's liability (construction contractor)GST — director's liability (corporate lawyer)GST — directors' liability (person never agreed to be a director)GST — directors' liability (public company)GST — director's liability (restaurant owner)GST — directors' liability assessment — individual was never a directorGST — employee rebate more than 10 years backGST/HST — exported goodsGST/HST and income tax — family built home for personal useGST/HST — fixing a failed voluntary disclosureGST — full input tax credits allowedGST — getting CRA to honour a retroactive registrationGST — golf club membershipsGST — home renovation was not substantial renovationGST/HST — home was built for family, not for sale, and company held it as bare trusteeGST — input tax credits allowed without documentationGST/HST — input tax credits for GST incurred before registrationGST/HST — input tax credits for joint venture investmentGST/HST — input tax credits for legal fees on selling company sharesGST — input tax credits justifiedGST/HST — input tax credits — “medical” company was not making exempt suppliesGST/HST — input tax credits on bulk purchases of iPhonesGST/HST — input tax credits on inputs to exempt suppliesGST/HST — input tax credits on purchase of old home for new projectGST — input tax credits on land held for developmentGST/HST — input tax credits to charity for cost of landGST/HST — input tax credits where CRA had cancelled supplier's GST registrationGST/HST — input tax credits where invoices addressed to different company in groupGST — interest reduced to reflect offsetting rebateGST/HST — ITCs for joint venturerGST — liability of charitable institution for unremitted GSTGST/HST — litigation over real estate purchaseGST/HST — mail processing company ruinous assessment avertedGST — medical devicesGST — miscellaneous adjustmentsGST/HST — new housing rebateGST/HST — net tax refund approvedGST/HST — no HST on settlement received but ITCs on termination paymentGST/HST — no "substantial renovation" of apartment buildingGST — partnership assessment was out of timeGST — purchase of real estateGST/HST — purchases by President as agentGST — rebate for ship towed out of the countryGST/HST — rebate to builder of student residenceGST — recognizing when a second objection had to be filedGST/HST — recovering HST not paid on sales incentivesGST/HST — recovering tax from customers after CRA assessmentGST — reducing assessment by almost 90%GST/HST — reducing assessment on self-supply of new homeGST — registrants were not associatedGST — reopening audit after expiry of appeal periodGST/HST — resolving dispute between buyer and seller of landGST — retroactively deeming a business to be GST-registeredGST — sales of condominiumsGST — school board's liability eliminatedGST — services to insolvent companies were zero-ratedGST/HST — services to US company were zero-ratedGST/HST — services were zero-ratedGST/HST — showing purchaser that real estate sale was exemptGST — stopping a client from being driven out of businessGST — summer camp teaching English as a second language was exemptGST — tax on purchase of commercial propertyGST — tire installer neglecting to bill GSTGST — townhouse renovationsGST/HST — valuation of student residenceGST — voluntary disclosure — negotiating interest relief and income tax offsetGST — voluntary disclosure acceptedGST — voluntary disclosure of GST collected on commercial rentsGST — voluntary disclosure of management feesGST — waiver of interestGST — waiver of interest and penaltyGST — waiver of penaltyGST — wash transactionGST — were courses educational or recreational?HST and the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit — correcting the provincial government’s misunderstandingPST — director's liabilityPST — directors' liability (car dealership)PST — directors' liability re data conversion projectPST — eliminating assessment for tax collected by franchisorPST — invoices written up incorrectlyPST — reducing tax on sale of book with CD-ROMPST — refund of tax on supermarket constructionIncome tax — $2 million payment on retirement was tax-freeIncome tax — another refund where return filed lateIncome tax — assessment for transfer by tax debtorIncome tax — auditor demanding too muchIncome tax — builder built home as personal residenceIncome tax — cancelling source deductions assessmentIncome tax — capital gains vs. incomeIncome tax — charitable donation of kidney beansIncome tax — charitable donation to US religious schoolIncome tax — child support deductionIncome tax — claiming business losses from past yearsIncome tax — companies were not carrying on Personal Services BusinessIncome tax — consequential reassessment of spouse was statute-barredIncome tax — corporation was bare trusteeIncome tax — cost of building home proven without receiptsIncome tax — costs of mother's Notice of Objection deductibleIncome tax — CRA chasing widow for deceased's RRSPIncome tax — deduction for Power of Attorney feesIncome tax — donations to suspect charity allowedIncome tax — expenses against unreported incomeIncome tax — expenses of setting up a film shelterIncome tax — general anti-avoidance ruleIncome tax — getting the $500,000 capital gains exemptionIncome tax — getting Third Level Fairness reviewIncome tax — income from UN agency was tax-freeIncome tax — income not earned personallyIncome tax — intercompany charges deductibleIncome tax — liability of deceased's estate for UK pension incomeIncome tax — no tax on litigation settlementIncome tax — non-resident tax on rental incomeIncome tax — officers of company were acting as outside sales reps, not employeesIncome tax — over-intrusive auditIncome tax — professional fees deduction allowedIncome tax — refund to non-resident sellers of propertyIncome tax — refunds where returns filed lateIncome tax — "reserve" was not a reserveIncome tax — RRSP on deathIncome tax — sale of condo was not a "flip" for profitIncome tax — sale of rental property by non-residentIncome tax — tax savings on selling homeIncome tax — taxpayer did not realize she was non-resident and exempt from Canadian taxIncome tax — trust for disabled childIncome tax — voluntary disclosureIncome tax — wages of family members were deductibleIncome tax — waiver of RRSP penalty taxIncome tax — waiver of TFSA penalty taxIncome tax — withholding tax on deemed dividendIncome tax and GST — real estate agent's business expensesCollections — execution preventing sale of propertyPayroll withholdings — directors' liability (company dissolved)Payroll withholdings — directors' liability (public company)Payroll withholdings — penalty for late remittanceYour problem goes here Next Case > GST/HST and income tax — family built home for personal use My clients were a married couple. The husband ran a business related to construction. He was also a real estate agent. He had his company build two homes in succession for the family to live in, paying the company market value for its services. Each home was customized in many ways, and was intended as the family’s “dream home”. The family were not intending to sell either home. In both cases, due to unexpected circumstances (within 3 years of each other), they had to sell the home just a few months after they moved in. The first time was due to a combination of circumstances. The second was because the company lost a lot of money during COVID, and the family could not afford to keep the home. My clients were audited for GST/HST on the sale of the two homes. Their accountant helped them prepare a letter explaining the circumstances and why they had to sell the homes. The GST/HST auditor did not believe the account. She decided that, since the husband was in construction and real estate and the couple sold both homes very soon after they was built, they must have intended all along to sell them. Thus, in the auditor’s view, my clients were liable for not collecting and remitting HST on the sales. The CRA proposed to assess them for HST accordingly. With interest and penalty, the assessments would have cost well over a million dollars. Worse still, income tax assessments would likely follow, more than doubling the cost. At this point the accountant came to me for advice, having drafted a letter to reply to the CRA auditor. I advised that the accountant’s draft response would not work. It did not focus on the right issues, and was not backed up by documentary evidence. Instead, I explained the comprehensive effort that would be needed to win this case, whether at Audit, objection or Tax Court appeal. Of course, winning at Audit would be quickest and most preferable (and cheapest). The clients then retained me to prepare a comprehensive reply. After I spoke with them at length, I was able to advise that the case could be won, but we would need to assemble a vast amount of evidence, to overturn the auditor’s misunderstandings of the facts. Over the next few weeks, I collected and organized: explanations of the family’s cultural customs photos and invoices showing how the houses were customized in many ways for their needs, with many unusual features photos and invoices showing how the house was upgraded in many ways that a builder planning to sell the home would not do many emails showing the wife’s detailed involvement in designing both homes, with language showing she was clearly intending to live in each of them detailed records of the wife’s personal design work of various specific features in each home photos and videos of the wife and children (and even a child’s friend) visiting the homes during construction detailed Affidavits from eight different contractors who had worked on the homes, who testified to the wife’s and children’s involvement in the planning and construction as well as the expensive special features in the homes that would not have been put in by someone intending to sell the home Affidavits from the husband, the wife and the (now adult) children testifying to their intentions about the home, their personal involvement, and the facts that led to each home having to be sold evidence (including invoices and Affidavits) about changes made during the middle of construction, as my clients changed their minds and made many design changes even to things that had already been built, resulting in significant extra expense. In total, I sent the CRA a 70-page analysis and explanation, with over 500 pages of supporting evidence. This took me and my co-counsel many hours and was a very expensive process. But it was well worth it. The auditor called and agreed to concede that one home was built solely for personal reasons. We then scheduled a video call with the auditor, her Team Leader and my clients, and I was able to get my clients to explain in person the background to building the homes and the circumstances that forced them to sell each one. And I showed how the documentation, emails, photos and maps in our submission fully supported what the clients were saying. A few weeks later, the auditor called to advise that CRA now agreed both homes were built solely as personal residences, and that they would close the file without assessing. Problem solved! (2025)