Principal Issues: Whether costs incurred by a spouse of a business owner for the storage and maintenance of patient records after the cessation of a professional medical practice are deductible.
Position: Question of fact. Where the future storage and maintenance costs are connected to the period in which the business income was earned by the taxpayer the costs may be deductible, but not by the spouse.
Reasons: Consistent with Tournier v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 229, future storage and maintenance costs incurred by a taxpayer for maintaining records after the cessation of the taxpayer’s business may be deductible where such costs represent the enduring and current provisions of the business activities beyond the period in which the income was received. However, such costs must be incurred by the taxpayer and not some other person as the business is that of the taxpayer.