ConocoPhillips - Federal Court of Appeal finds that CRA has no ability to use the s. 220(2.1) waiver to extend the period for filing a Notice of Objection

S. 220(2.1) provides that “where any provision of this Act… requires a person to file a… document…the Minister may waive the requirement, but the person shall provide the document…at the Minister’s request.” Woods JA has reversed the finding of Boswell J that s. 220(2.1) accords the Minister the discretion to waive the requirement to file a Notice of Objection (respecting a situation where the taxpayer allegedly did not find out about the reassessment in question until after the one-year limitation in s. 166.1(7) to get an extension for filing an Objection had passed).

Woods JA found that this “strict” limitation “is intentional,” and that “the general waiver provision cannot be applied in this manner to override a more specific provision [s. 166.1(7)].”

Neal Armstrong. Summaries of Canada (National Revenue) v. ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp., 2017 FCA 243 under s. 220(2.1) and Statutory Construction – Specific v. general provision.