Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.
Principal Issues: What recourse is available to collect overdue Advance Income Tax Ruling fees?
Position: Principal remedy is to file a Statement of Claim in the Federal Court and secondly amend Information Circular 70 6R5 to provide remedial measures, including (i) an undertaking from the representatives of taxpayers to pay the fees where their clients fail to do so; (ii) refusal to consider any further ruling requests from a taxpayer, the taxpayer's representative or the representative's firm where fees remain outstanding 90 days after billing; and (iii) provision for payment of all fees prior to the release of a ruling.
Reasons: The errant behaviour of a few is placing an inordinate burden on administrative resources.
Me Sophie Matte,
Department of Justice
Quebec Regional Office (Ottawa) 2009-032472
Regulatory Law Directorate
284 Wellington Street, SAT 6038
Ottawa ON K1A 0H8
June 8, 2009
Dear Me Matte:
Re: XXXXXXXXXX
This is further to your reporting letter of May 29, 2009 addressed to our Mr. Bob Skulski, wherein you enclosed the debtor's certified cheque in full payment of the amounts stipulated in our Statement of Claim. Allow me to start by extending my sincere appreciation for your effort in bringing this outstanding matter to a successful conclusion.
The account was by no means the only outstanding receivable for overdue fees that have been charged in accordance with the provisions of the Advance Income Tax Ruling Fees Order, SOR/90-234. In this regard, there are a number of other outstanding accounts that may require the commencement of similar proceedings in the Federal Court.
It would seem that the imposition of interest under the Interest and Administrative Charges Regulations, SOR/96-188 has not always sufficed to encourage the payment of fee arrears. However, some of the changes that are currently under consideration in the re-write of Information Circular 70-6R5 on the topic of Advance Income Tax Rulings, may alleviate the burden of having to institute further proceedings.
The measures that are under consideration include the following:
- An undertaking from the representatives of taxpayers to pay the fees where their clients fail to do so.
- Refusal to consider any further ruling requests from a taxpayer, the taxpayer's representative or the representative's firm where fees remain outstanding 90 days after billing.
Payment of all fees prior to the release of a ruling. Please note that the majority of taxpayers pay their fees promptly with little or no follow-up. Hopefully, the foregoing changes will modify the behaviour of the remainder without the need of having to resort to litigation. As it stands now the errant behaviour of a few is placing an inordinate burden on administrative resources.
Meanwhile, given that the outstanding fee arrears in the instant case, including interest to date, as well as all legal fees relating to the filing of the claim and process service have been paid by certified cheque, we agree that the file can be closed and a Notice of Discontinuance be served and filed with the Court. Thank you once again for your efforts in this matter.
Yours truly,
Wayne Adams
Director General
Income Tax Rulings Directorate
Legislative Policy and Regulatory
Affairs Branch
All rights reserved. Permission is granted to electronically copy and to print in hard copy for internal use only. No part of this information may be reproduced, modified, transmitted or redistributed in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system for any purpose other than noted above (including sales), without prior written permission of Canada Revenue Agency, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L5
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, 2009
Tous droits réservés. Il est permis de copier sous forme électronique ou d'imprimer pour un usage interne seulement. Toutefois, il est interdit de reproduire, de modifier, de transmettre ou de redistributer de l'information, sous quelque forme ou par quelque moyen que ce soit, de facon électronique, méchanique, photocopies ou autre, ou par stockage dans des systèmes d'extraction ou pour tout usage autre que ceux susmentionnés (incluant pour fin commerciale), sans l'autorisation écrite préalable de l'Agence du revenu du Canada, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L5.
© Sa Majesté la Reine du Chef du Canada, 2009
Email this Content