B.C. firms must pay for tax decisions made before rules were changed: SCOC | Canada News Media
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B.C. firms must pay for tax decisions made before rules were changed: SCOC

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OTTAWA — Canada’s highest court says two British Columbia companies that thought they were following tax guidelines while trying to protect corporate assets now owe money to the Canada Revenue Agency because a Tax Court reinterpreted the rules.

Eight of nine Supreme Court of Canada justices agree Rite-Way Metals Ltd., and Harvard Industries Ltd, both based in Langley, B.C., can’t undo the tax decisions they made in 2008 to create separate family trusts to protect corporate assets.

At the time, a section of the Income Tax Act allowed companies to avoid taxes on dividends if the funds were paid to a family trust, but the Tax Court of Canada made a different decision than what had been commonly accepted by tax professionals.

It meant the Cochrane family trust, created by Harvard Industries, owed taxes on dividends totalling $2,085,000, while the Collins family trust owed taxes on $510,000 in Rite-Way dividends.

The B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal allowed the trusts to undo the decisions, but writing for the majority, Supreme Court of Canada Justice Russell Brown has overturned those rulings and upheld the appeal of the Attorney General for Canada.

Brown writes the courts may intervene if a mistake has been made but can’t step in to allow what amounts to retroactive tax planning or to “achieve the objective of avoiding an unintended tax liability.”

“Taxpayers should be taxed based on what they actually agreed to do and did, and not on what they could have done or later wished they had done,” says Brown.

The lone high court justice favouring the B.C. court rulings writes that allowing Rite-Way and Harvard to reverse their earlier tax planning is the only remedy available.

“In my view, what takes this case into the zone of unfairness is not the application of the law, but rather the CRA’s discretionary decision to reassess the taxpayers based on a retroactive approach” to the part of the act that allowed family trusts, writes Justice Suzanne Coté.

“Unfairness results when the CRA reverses a long-standing interpretation and then seeks to reassess a taxpayer retroactively,” Coté writes.

In addition to settling the unpaid tax bill, the eight-to-one high court decision orders the Cochrane and Collins family trusts to pay the costs of the Attorney General at all court levels of the legal battle.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2022.

 

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RCMP arrest second suspect in deadly shooting east of Calgary

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EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.

Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.

Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.

Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.

Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.

RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.

Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.

“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.

But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.

“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.

While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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26-year-old son is accused of his father’s murder on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast

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RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.

Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.

The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.

It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.

Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.

The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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Metro Vancouver’s HandyDART strike continues after talks break with no deal

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VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.

Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”

However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.

McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”

About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.

McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.

He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.

The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

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