CRA indicates that parental leave need not detract from satisfying the regular, “continuous” and substantial TOSI test

A specified individual will be deemed under paragraph 120.4(1.1)(a) to have been actively engaged on a regular, continuous and substantial basis in the activities of a business in a taxation year of the individual if the individual works in the business at least an average of 20 hours per week during the portion of the year in which the business operates. Finance’s Explanatory Notes state:

An average work commitment of less than 20 hours per week could qualify as regular, continuous and substantial where, for example, an individual works 30 hours per week in a year-round business up to the start of July, after which they are unable to continue working throughout the remainder of the year (e.g., because of injury, illness or the birth or adoption of a child).

CRA essentially adopted this statement and stated:

[T]here are certain situations where the average work commitment could be considered as being “regular, continuous and substantial” even if the bright-line deeming rule is not met. Accordingly, the fact that an individual was unable to work for a portion of a year in which the business operated due solely to the adoption or birth of a child would not, in and by itself, mean that the individual was not otherwise considered to meet the regular, continuous and substantial requirement for that year.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 26 September 2018 External T.I. 2018-0770911E5 under s. 120.4(1.1)(a).