19 September 1990 Internal T.I. 900757 F - Payment of Membership Fees by Employers

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.

September 19, 1990

19(1)

Re:  Payment of Membership Fees by Employers

This is in reply to your letter of May 7, 1990, wherein you requested our opinion on the income tax implications where membership fees are paid by an employer on behalf of an employee.

Specifically, you asked if payments made by the federal government to 24(1) would be included in that employee's income pursuant to section 6 of the Income Tax Act in circumstances where membership in the 24(1) is not a requirement of the particular jurisdiction where the employee is so employed.

Our Comments

The determination of whether the payment of professional and other membership fees by an employer in respect of an employee is a taxable benefit to the employee depends upon who is the primary beneficiary of the payment.

Where an employee maintains membership in a particular organization because of a legal requirement or because of a job requirement, such as a specification contained in a classification standard or in a job description, the payment of reasonable membership fees by the employer would not be considered to be a taxable benefit to the employee.

If a 24(1) employed by the federal government, is required to belong to the 24(1) the payment of membership fees in that organization made to or on behalf of the employee would not, in our view, constitute a taxable benefit to 24(1)

We trust that these comments are of assistance to you.

Yours truly,

for DirectorBusiness and General DivisionRulings DirectorateLegislative and IntergovernmentalAffairs Branch