Equal Treatment

Table of Contents

Cases

Baker v. Canada, 2005 DTC 5266, 2005 FCA 185

interpretive standard should not be subjective and variable

In finding that the meaning of "full-time" employment should have a consistent application, Noël, J.A. stated (at para. 13):

Defining "full-time employment" to be equivalent to the standard number of hours worked in an industry and area where the activities take place ... is inconsistent with the scheme which is to ensure that a certain minimum level of activity exists in a corporation prior to allowing it the small business deduction. Such a test would lead to differing criteria for "full-time employment" between industries and regions. Section 125 would thus be applied in an inconsistent and subjective manner, violating the principle that similarly situated taxpayers should be taxed equally.

Locations of other summaries Wordcount
Tax Topics - Income Tax Act - Section 125 - Subsection 125(7) - Specified Investment Business 4 hrs/day not full-time 80

See Also

The Advocate General (representing Revenue and Customs) v K E Entertainments Ltd (Scotland), [2020] UKSC 28

a single lawful method of apportionment of consideration fostered principle of equal treatment

After finding, contrary to one of the taxpayer’s submissions, that there was only one method for determining the quantum of consideration that it received that represented consideration for its taxable supplies of access to the bingo games hosted by it, Lord Legatt stated (at para. 31-32):

In matters of taxation consistency of approach is of critical importance. If the same exercise of apportionment may lawfully be carried out in more than one way, the result is likely to be that different taxpayers whose situations are identical will lawfully pay different amounts of tax. That offends the principle of equal treatment. It is also capable of distorting competition between businesses.

In the case of a pan-European system of taxation such as VAT, there is an additional consideration that recognising more than one method of apportionment as lawful could result in inequality in competition between businesses situated in different member states.

Locations of other summaries Wordcount
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 232 - Subsection 232(2) correcting computations of consideration for supplies did not decrease consideration for VAT purposes 398
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Supply single composite price charged by taxpayer supported treating that price as consideration for a single supply of a bingo session rather than for multiple supplies of component games 404
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 141.01 - Subsection 141.01(5) finding a single correct method promoted consistent treatment of taxpayers 447