CRA indicates that a registrant cannot use ETA s. 296(2.1) to avoid having to file a GST/HST rebate claim

ETA s. 296(2.1) essentially requires CRA to allow claimable but unclaimed rebate claims when it assesses net tax for a reporting period. CRA considered this requirement to be inapplicable when a corporation, which had failed to self-assess itself, subsequently sent in a late return accompanied by a note to the effect that unclaimed GST/HST rebates existed – but without filing any rebate claim. CRA stated that this situation did not satisfy the implicit requirement that “the Minister must always be able in making the assessment to determine the fact that the amount of the rebate would be payable if it were claimed in a rebate application filed in accordance with the ETA.”

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 19 April 2017 Interpretation 183783 under ETA s. 296(2.1).