Le – Court of Quebec finds that domination and abuse of the taxpayer by her aunt precluded a finding of a shareholder benefit

The ARQ assessed the taxpayer (who was a recent immigrant from Vietnam with no knowledge of French or English) under the Quebec equivalent of s. 15 on the basis that a corporation of which she was a 40% shareholder had made unreported sales and a portion of the proceeds had been appropriated to her.

Bourgeois JCQ accepted her testimony that she was dominated by her aunt (who had had her beaten, and precluded her from having opportunities to leave the aunt’s residence), that she had no involvement in the affairs of the corporation and that her aunt had forced her to sign various documents. Before finding that there was no receipt of any taxable benefit, he noted that under the Quebec Civil Code, fear vitiated consent to a contract.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Le v. Agence du revenu du Québec, 2021 QCCQ 5290 under s. 15(1).