9 August 1989 Income Tax Severed Letter AC20181 - Request for Tax Remission

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.

Saskatoon District Taxation Office       Technical
Interpretations 
Mr. S.W. Cochrane                          Division
Director-Taxation                        Phil K. Tang
                                         (613) 957-9299
REQUEST FOR TAX REMISSION               2-0181

         19(1)

We acknowledge the receipt of your memo of June 13, 1989 concerning a request for tax remission by 19(1) (the "Taxpayer").

                       24(1) & 19(1)

A.

                       24(1) & 19(1)

B.

In point A, the Taxpayer's financial statements were prepared incorrectly. This is clearly not an error of the Department. Thus, a remission order may be sponsored only under the Extreme Hardship or Financial setback category. In order to determine if the Taxpayer qualifies under these categories it is necessary to establish his current financial status and other factors such as:

(a) conditions beyond the Taxpayers control,

     (b)  naivete in the face of complications extraordinary to
          the Taxpayer, and

     (c)  Taxpayer errors the Department should reasonably have   
          caught.

If extreme hardship is involved, it must be demonstrated that this existed at the time the tax liability arose and continues to be present.

In point B, it seems that the Taxpayer may qualify for tax remission under the "Incorrect Departmental Action" category. You stated that "Upon review of the file and information submitted by the taxpayer it was verified that an error did result in the reassessments of 1979 and that if it were possible an adjustment would have been made in favour of the taxpayer." However, it is our view that to qualify for a tax remission under this category it

must be demonstrated that the Department erred at the time of the reassessment and that the taxpayer did not file an objection in time because of extenuating circumstances.

As we do not have sufficient information on file to evaluate all of these requirements, we would ask that you review the facts surrounding this request again and provide us with this supplementary information. Further we would also require the amount of the federal and provincial taxes that are subject to the remission so that the exact amount of taxes can be provided in any Remission Order that may be recommended.

A.G. Cockell Director Technical Interpretations Division Legislative and Intergovernmental

Affairs Branch