Pastuch – Tax Court of Canada applies issue estoppel to preclude reviewing compellability of documents from a Saskatchewan regulatory authority

The taxpayer, who had appealed reassessments of three of her taxation years for which CRA had added approximately $2.8M in shareholder benefits to her income, brought a motion pursuant to Rule 86 to compel the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority of Saskatchewan (“FCAA”) to turn over certain documents that she considered to be relevant to her appeal.

Graham J found that, with one minor exception, issue estoppel applied to preclude the taxpayer from again seeking to have such documents produced by the FCAA given that in a number of proceedings before a panel to consider allegations that she had breached a number of provisions of the Securities Act (Saskatchewan) the panel had concluded that the FCAA no longer had such documents in its possession.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Pastuch v. The Queen, 2022 TCC 36 under Tax Court of Canada Rules (General Procedure), s. 86.