Remtilla – Tax Court of Canada finds that a T1 adjustment request was a waiver keeping the year in question open

When the taxpayer realized a large loss from options trading in 2008, he decided to report it on income account and filed a T1 adjustment request for his smaller 2005 loss and 2006 and 2007 gains from option trading (previously reported on capital account) to be adjusted to income account. After negotiations, CRA assessed all the years as on income account. The taxpayer objected to the assessments of 2006 and 2007 as being statute-barred notwithstanding his agreement to this treatment in the settlement agreement with CRA.

V. Miller J. dislikes sharp practice. She found that the T1 adjustment request was itself a waiver that kept the 2006 and 2007 years open given that it together with the accompanying letter contained all the necessary information and that "a reasonable person observing Mr. Remtilla’s interactions with the CRA in 2009 and in 2012 would infer that he always intended the T1 Adjustment Requests to be acted upon."

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Remtilla v. The Queen, 2015 TCC 200, under s. 152(4)(a)(ii).