Aubin – Court of Quebec finds that there was no taxable benefit in paying the employee’s costs of attending a retreat hosted by a client

A senior employee (Aubin) of the National Bank of Canada was invited by an important client of the Bank (Colabor) to attend, along with his spouse, a conference hosted by Colabar in Vienna in 2011 and in Chile in 2012 for Colabor’s senior employees and commercial partners. The Bank paid the full costs of Aubin’s attendance at the two conferences, which were $7568 in 2011 and $12,898 in 2012 as well as the same costs of a second employee and spouse attending the 2011 conference.

In finding that there was no taxable benefit under the Quebec equivalent of s. 6(1)(a), Forlini JCQ stated:

[Their] participation … was principally for the benefit of the Bank and not for the taxpayers. Furthermore, the taxpayers as well as their spouses attended at the conferences at the express request of their employer.

… Doubtless, the taxpayers experienced a certain pleasure in visiting museums, wineries and tourist attractions during the conferences, but such pleasure had an accessory and secondary character to the purpose of the activity, i.e., developing a business relationship between the Bank and an important client.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Aubin v. Agence du revenu du Québec, 2019 QCCQ 6243 under s. 6(1)(a).