Bandi - Tax Court finds that departures in a tax shelter, from what was described in the tax shelter number application, were not fatal

A "charitable donation" scheme in which the taxpayer participated had numerous and significant differences with what the promoter had described when it applied for the tax shelter identification number.  CRA argued that this meant that the actual scheme did not have the benefit of having received the identification number, so that no credit could be claimed.

Hogan J rejected this "literal interpretation."  He stated that s. 237.1(1) should not be interpreted as forcing a promoter to abandon the existing registration and reapply each time a change was made to the arrangement.  There was no registration system or other process that would allow taxpayers to verify that a program conformed to the tax shelter description that the promoter filed with CRA.

However, the taxpayer lost his appeal anyway, on the basis that he had not made any "gift."

Scott Armstrong.  Summaries of Bandi v. The Queen, 2013 TCC 230, under ss. 237.1(6) and 118.1 - "total charitable gifts."