11 April 1990 Income Tax Severed Letter 7-4692 - Review of Taxable Benefits Manual—clergymen's residence and travel allowances

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.

This is in reply to your memorandum of February 1, 1990, wherein you requested we review the above-noted manual for technical accuracy.

We have reviewed the material submitted and offer the following comments.

• 1. "Definitions - Administrative service": Replace the word "they" in the last sentence with "he/she".
• 2. "Clergyman": Reposition the word "also" and insert between the words "here and encompasses" in the first paragraph.
• 3. Third paragraph under the heading" Clergyman": delete the words "is defined in as a person" in the first sentence and replace with "may claim a deduction where he/she is a person".
• 4. Fourth paragraph under the heading "Clergyman": second sentence, typographical error in the word "available" in the third line.
• 5. Heading "Ministering to": typographical error in the word "religious".
• 6. Heading "Travelling Allowances": typographical error in clause (B), the word "related".
• 7. Heading "Automobile Allowances": typographical error in first sentence of first paragraph, the word "allowance" should be "allowances
• 8. Second paragraph under the heading "Automobile Allowances": typographical error in the first sentence - the word "in" should be deleted and the phrase "claim allowable expenses" should be replaced by the phrase "a claim for allowable expenses may be made".
• 9. First paragraph under the heading "Pensionability and Insurability": typographical error the word "allowances" should be "allowance".
• 10. Second paragraph under the heading "Pensionability and Insurability": the word "rate" should be added between the words "flat" and "allowance" in the first sentence and the word "based" in the same sentence should be deleted. In addition, the word "not" in the first sentence should be deleted as, in this instance, either subparagraph 6(1)(b)(x) or 6(1)(b)(xi) of the Income Tax Act deems the amount paid to be in excess of a reasonable amount for the purposes of subparagraphs 6(1)(b)(v), (vi) and (vii.1) of the Income Tax Act.
• In the second sentence of this paragraph, the word "subjected" should be "subject".
• 11. Third paragraph under the heading "Pensionability and Insurability": you may wish to reword this paragraph to convey the view expressed by the Department in paragraph 49 of IT-522 (i.e. the allowance must be unreasonably low in order for the employee to be able to bring it into income - this may or may not be the case where the allowance is less than the employees actual expenses).
• 12. Third paragraph under the heading "Unemployment Insurance Premiums": the word "is" should be added in the second sentence between the words "kind" and "not".
• 13. Under the heading "Reporting Requirements": the second paragraph beginning with the word "Note:"; second sentence should have the word "the" between the words "on" and "these" deleted.
• 14. Under the heading "Transportation Allowance" in example II: the word "are" in the second sentence should be replaced with the word "is".
• 15. Under the heading "Preparation of the T4" in example II: "box (K) to (o)" - typographical error; the "s" should be dropped from the word "Benefits".
• 16. Under the heading "Residence Allowance" in example v: the amount "$25,000" should be replaced by $25,200 (i.e. $18,000 + $7,200 - $25,200).
• 17. Under the heading "Preparation of the T4" in example v: Box (G) $25,000 should be replaced with the figure $25,200 in the calculation in brackets.

We also advise that we have not reviewed the TOM references for their applicability to this manual.