Words and Phrases - "broker"

a
86
b
44
c
76
d
50
e
38
f
31
g
18
h
14
i
73
j
2
k
2
l
32
m
56
n
25
o
38
p
80
q
3
r
76
s
89
t
46
u
15
v
9
w
23
y
2

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v. The Queen, 2018 TCC 109, rev'd 2021 FCA 10

Summary Under
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Regulations - Financial Services (GST/HST) Regulations - Subsection 4(3) - Paragraph 4(3)(c)
activities of Visa were too passive to be of a "broker"

The CIBC issued Visa credit cards and utilized a credit card payment system operated and managed by Visa Canada. Visa Canada essentially acted as a largely automated go-between between the “issuer,” who provided the funds for a purchase at a merchant by a cardholder, and the “acquirer,” who used such funds to pay the merchant. Visa Canada added $18M in GST or HST to its charges for its services to CIBC in the years in question, and CRA denied CIBC’s s. 261 rebate claim therefor. In finding that the supply by Visa Canada was a prescribed supply under para. (t) of “financial service,” Rossiter CJ first found that the services of Visa were “quintessentially administrative in nature” so as to come within s. 4(2)(b) of the Regulation, and then rejected the suggestion that Visa was a broker, stating (at para 128):

The definitions of a broker … give the impression of someone that actively engages in commercial activity, such as negotiating, buying and selling, on behalf of a principal. In contrast, the activities engaged in by Visa are generally more passive in nature with Visa not negotiating, buying or selling on behalf of CIBC, but rather coordinating the completion of financial transactions by effectively acting as a facilitator in helping to transmit funds from one party to another. I believe that Visa does not meet the intended definition of a broker.

Words and Phrases
broker
Locations of other summaries Wordcount
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Supply single supply of payment platform 162
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Financial Service - Paragraph (l) Visa arranged for payments between cardholder bank, merchant’s bank and merchant 268
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Financial Service - Paragraph (i) Visa provided services to CIBC that related to an agreement for which credit card vouchers were issued 216
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Asset Management Service services provided by Visa to bank were not an asset management service 239
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Financial Service - Paragraph (r.3) no (r.3) service as Visa did not assist in credit authorization 191
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Financial Service - Paragraph (r.4) services provided by Visa that were listed in (r.4) were not the predominant elements 199
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Section 123 - Subsection 123(1) - Financial Service - Paragraph (r.5) limited use of Visa logo did not engage (r.5) 146
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Regulations - Financial Services (GST/HST) Regulations - Subsection 4(2) - Paragraph 4(2)(b) Visa service to CIBC was an administrative service 186
Tax Topics - Excise Tax Act - Regulations - Financial Services (GST/HST) Regulations - Subsection 4(1) - Person at Risk not a "person at risk" if risk is very remote 419