A-Supreme Nursing – Tax Court of Canada finds that the provision of agency nurses to seniors’ homes qualified as exempt nursing services

The appellant, in addition to providing nurses directly to individuals, placed nurses in the Ontario long-term care facilities and nursing homes of other clients and did not charge GST/HST on the related fees in reliance on the exemption for nursing services in Sched. V, Pt. II, s. 6.

In confirming such exemption, MacPhee J distinguished Hôpital Santa Cabrini (which found that a hospital which contracted for the services of nurses employed by a personnel-services agency was receiving a taxable supply of personnel services) on the basis that, here, the nurses had significant operational control over the manner of their provision of the nursing services to the residents and such delegation of day-to-day control by the facility operators to agency nurses was permitted by the Regulations under the Long-Term Care Homes Act, 2007. It did not matter that the home operators retained general responsibility over the provision of health care services at their facilities.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of A-Supreme Nursing & Home Care Services Inc. v. The King, 2023 TCC 39 under ETA Sched. V, Pt. II, s. 6.