1 December 1992 External T.I. 9224525 F - Meaning Of A "Day"-(4093-U5-100-15)

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.

24(1)

Attention:   19(1)

December 1, 1992

Dear Sirs:

Re:  Subparagraph 2(b) of Article XV of the Canada-U.S. Income Tax Convention (1980) (the "Canada-U.S. Treaty")

This is in reply to your letter of August 14, 1992 in which you requested our views on how to determine the number of days a non-resident person is present in Canada for the purposes of subparagraph 2(b) of Article XV of the Canada-U.S. Treaty.

You described the following situation:

Mr. A is a U.S. citizen and an employee of a U.S. Corporation ("USCO").  Mr. A performs part of his employment duties in Canada at Canco, a Canadian subsidiary of USCO.  Mr. A's remuneration is paid by USCO.  A typical example of the time Mr. A spends in Canada would be as follows:  Mr. A arrives in Canada at 7:00 p.m. on Monday evening, works at Canco on Tuesday and returns to the U.S. on Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.  Mr. A performs no employment services at or for Canco on Monday evening.

In computing the number of days Mr. A is present in Canada in this particular situation for the purposes of subparagraph 2(b) of Article XV of the Canada-U.S. Treaty, we confirm that Mr. A is considered to be present in Canada for two days, Monday and Tuesday, and that being present in Canada for part of a day will count as a full day.  This is in line with the Department's position set out in paragraph 1 of Interpretation Bulletin IT-298.  Although the comments in IT-298 apply to Article VII entitled "Compensation for personal services" in the former Canada-U.S. Income Tax Convention (1942), it is our view that the comments also apply to paragraph 2(b) of Article XV of the Canada-U.S. Treaty since both Articles deal with remuneration for personal services and they both have similar wording.  This position is also in line with one of the definitions for the word "day" in Black's Law Dictionary which indicates that the whole or any part of a period of 24 hours from midnight to midnight constitutes a day.

We hope these comments will be helpful.

Yours truly,

for DirectorReorganizations and Foreign DivisionRulings DirectorateLegislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Branch