Straessle – Tax Court of Canada finds that the beneficiary of an estate that had been wound up could appeal an assessment of the estate

The definition of a “person” indicates that such word “includes … the heirs, executors … or other legal representatives of such a person.” Lafleur J found that this definition indicated that the heir of an estate (i.e., the daughter receiving as the beneficiary of the estate of her mother), who had never been an executor or other legal representative of the estate, could object to and then appeal an assessment of the person and taxpayer in question, being the estate (which had since been wound up). She rejected the Crown’s argument that, in order to have this ability, the heir was required by the quoted wording to have been an heir who was also a legal representative, stating:

Parliament cannot have intended that an assessment be immune to a judicial challenge.

It is unclear whether there are non-procedural contexts in which a reference to taxpayer that is an estate will include an heir.

Neal Armstrong, Summary of Estate of Winifred Straessle v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 144 under s. 165(1).