Sodecia – Tax Court of Canada finds that the taxpayer had failed to establish that a notice of assessment had been mailed after its stated date

The taxpayer argued that an assessment of it dated June 8, 2017 was only mailed, at the request of its agent, about three years later, so that its Notice of Objection thereto was timely. The taxpayer’s appeal was dismissed. Affidavits (coming within s. 244(10)) of CRA employees indicated that there were no abnormalities appearing in the CRA records regarding the preparation and sending of the related batch of assessments. This established a rebuttable presumption that the assessment had been mailed on June 8, 2017. Furthermore, the taxpayer had not rebutted this presumption in light of some gaps in its evidence, including one arising out of an office move that “raise[d] the possibility that the envelope containing the Assessment was simply put aside to be dealt with at a point in time and possibly misplaced or forgotten.”

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Sodecia Canada Investments Inc. v. The King, 2024 TCC 40 under s. 244(14).