398722 Alberta Ltd. v. Canada, [2000] FCJ No. 644 (CA)

The registrant was required to build an apartment building as a condition precedent for obtaining a permit to build a hotel, and argued that the residential housing operation therefore was an integral part of is hotel business and thus was a "commercial activity". The Court held that input tax credits under s. 169(1) were not available to a registrant who was fulfilling an obligation to meet another business objective rather than a commercial activity, so that the registrant here was not entitled to an input tax credit in respect of the GST payable on a deemed self supply of the apartment building on its substantial completion. Sharlow J.A. stated (at para. 22) that the definition of "commercial activity" recognized that although a business may "consist of a number of components, each of which is integral to the business as a whole", it required for GST purposes "that any part of the business that consists of making exempt supplies be notionally severed".

The registrant was required to build an apartment building as a condition precedent for obtaining a permit to build a hotel, and argued that the residential housing operation therefore was an integral part of is hotel business and thus was a "commercial activity". The Court held that input tax credits under s. 169(1) were not available to a registrant who was fulfilling an obligation to meet another business objective rather than a commercial activity, so that the registrant here was not entitled to an input tax credit in respect of the GST payable on a deemed self supply of the apartment building on its substantial completion.