Citation: 2007TCC743
Date: 20071211
Docket: 2007-3154(OAS)
BETWEEN:
LOUIS LAROUCHE,
Appellant,
and
THE MINISTER OF HUMAN RESOURCES AND
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT,
Respondent.
[OFFICIAL ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
Lamarre Proulx J.
[1] This is an appeal brought under the Old Age
Security Act (the "Act") in respect of the monthly guaranteed
income supplement provided for under sections 10 to 18 of the Act.
[2] On April 25, 2002, the appellant submitted two
application forms for the guaranteed income supplement: one for July 2001
to June 2002 and the other for July 2002 to June 2003.
[3] These forms were filed at the hearing as Exhibit I-1.
[4] According to
paragraph 11(b) of the Reply to the Notice of Appeal:
[translation]
(b) In this form,
the appellant did not report the following amounts he received:
(i) Year 2000 (July 2001 to
June 2002):
CSST (Quebec): $6,966.80;
WSIB (Ontario): $6,755.76
(ii) Year 2001 (July 2002 to
June 2003):
CSST (Quebec): $2,457.66
WSIB (Ontario): $6,782.88
[5] The appellant admits having received these
amounts but submits that they did not have to be included in the calculation of
his income for three reasons:
(1) With regard to the amounts received
from the CSST, he states that he did not receive the proper statements, namely,
the T5007 Statement of Benefits forms;
(2) With regard to the amounts received
from the WSIB, he did receive the T5007, but he alleges that on the reverse
side of these statements, the following note appears: [translation] "The income shown on the slip is not
taxable". There is also the following sentence: [translation] "Do not include this amount in your income
tax return." On this point, the appellant submits Exhibit A-1, a
document in which three photocopies of the reverse sides of the slips appear;
(3) The third reason concerns section 42
of the Ontario Worker's Compensation Act. This section provides that a
worker who has a permanent disability resulting from an injury is entitled to compensation
for non-economic loss and any other benefit that he or she may receive under the
Worker's Compensation Act.
Analysis and conclusion
[6] The photocopies of the reverse sides of the T5007
slips submitted by the appellant as Exhibit A-1 are not dated. It is
therefore not certain that these are really the reverse sides of the T5007 forms
sent by the WSIB. In fact, in 1992, the instructions were clearly indicated on Exhibit A-3
submitted by the appellant himself:
[translation]
Box 10 – Enter this amount on lines 144 and 250 of your
income tax return.
Box 11 – Enter this amount on lines 145 and 250 of your
income tax return. However, if you were married and lived with your spouse when
you received the social assistance benefits or provincial supplements, the
spouse with the higher income has to report this amount. The spouse who reports
this amount as income can claim an equivalent deduction on line 250.
Even if you must enter these benefits on
your income tax return, you do not pay tax on them, since you can claim
a deduction for these amounts on line 250.
[7] In any event, it is
trite law that what is important is the legislative scheme itself. Let us refer
to the Act.
[8] Subsection 14(1) of the Act reads as follows:
14. (1) Every person by whom an
application for a supplement in respect of a current payment period is made
shall, in the application, make a statement of the person’s income for the base
calendar year.
…
[9] The relevant part of the definition of
"income" in section 2 of the Act reads as follows:
“income” of a person for a calendar year means the
person’s income for the year, computed in accordance with the Income Tax Act,
except that
. . .
[10] The expression "base calendar year" is
defined in section 10 of the Act:
“base calendar year” means the last
calendar year ending before the current payment period.
[11] A person's income for a calendar year must be
calculated in compliance with the Income Tax Act. This brings us to the
provisions of this Act.
[12] Section 3 of the Income Tax Act provides
among other things that the taxpayer's income must be determined on the basis
of the total of all amounts each of which is the
taxpayer's income for the year.
[13] Paragraph 56(1)(v) of the Income Tax Act
reads as follows:
(1) Without restricting the generality of section 3, there shall be
included in computing the income of a taxpayer for a taxation year,
…
(v) compensation received under an
employees' or workers' compensation law of Canada or a province in respect of an injury, a disability or death;
[14] It should be noted that in computing the taxable
income, the same amounts are deducted under subparagraph 110(1)(f)(ii)
of the Income Tax Act.
[15] However, the Old Age Security Act refers to
income and not to taxable income. The amounts received by the appellant from
the CSST and the WSIB must be included in computing his income for the purposes
of his income tax return for the base year.
[16] It is not whether or not the T5007 form is received
which determines the amount of a person's income for a calendar year, but the
provisions of the Income Tax Act to which the Act refers.
[17] The same principle applies
to the reverse sides of the T5007 forms, although I am not certain for the
above-mentioned reasons that these reverse sides were actually those of the T5007
slips received from the WSIB for the years 2001 and 2002.
[18] I will now deal with
the appellant's submission to the effect that the compensation for non-economic
loss under section 42 of the Worker's Compensation Act of Ontario must be excluded from
the calculation of income.
[19] To be more precise, I
must say that this piece of legislation no longer applies to industrial
accidents, as it has been repealed. It has been replaced by the Workplace
Safety and Insurance Act, c. 16 of the 1997 Statutes of
Ontario. In any event, I am of the opinion that the appellant began receiving
his compensation under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, as
the current law has transitional provisions which continue the protection granted
to workers under the former act.
[20] Both the current
legislation and the former Worker's Compensation Act provide for compensation
calculated on the basis of loss of earnings and non-economic losses. However, with
regard to including, in computing income, compensation received under an
employees' or workers' compensation law of Canada or a province in respect of
an injury, a disability or death, paragraph 56(1)(v) of the Income Tax Act does not
make any distinction in terms of the nature of the elements—be it loss of
earnings or non-economic losses—included in computing this compensation.
Therefore, the total amount must be included in the calculation of a taxpayer's
income.
[21] Accordingly, the
appeal must be dismissed.
Signed at Ottawa, Canada, this 11th day of December 2007.
"Louise Lamarre Proulx"
Translation
certified true
on this 4th day
of February 2008
Michael Palles,
Reviser
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