International Hi Tech – ITCs were lost because they had been claimed by the wrong group entity

A corporation (“Garmeco”) had made timely claims for input tax credits for GST on legal invoices (based on alleged advice of a CRA official that it was the right person to make the claims), but was found by the Tax Court of Canada not to be entitled to them. A subsidiary of Garmeco (“IHI”) then claimed the ITCs on the basis that the Tax Court judgment had found that it was the right party to make the claims.

Russell J has now found that IHI also was precluded from claiming the ITCs because it had made the claims beyond the four-year period set out in s. 225(4)(b) – so that the fact that its parent had made the claims on a timely basis did not count for anything.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of International Hi Tech Industries Inc. v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 531 under s. 225(4)(b) and General Concepts -Estoppel.