Words and Phrases - "office"
Edwards v. Clinch, [1982] A.C. 845, [1982] BTC 109 (HL)
A civil engineer carried out public inquiries from time to time for the Secretary of State for the Environment, and received a per diem fee for doing so. It was held that holding an inquiry did not make him the holder of an office, and his fees accordingly were taxable as professional income rather than as income from an office or employment. The word "office" "must involve a degree of continuance (not necessarily continuity) and of independent existence; it must connote a post to which a person can be appointed, which he can vacate and to which a successor can be appointed," whereas the positions of the taxpayer were "'tailor-made'" to his talents.
| Locations of other summaries | Wordcount | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax Topics - Statutory Interpretation - Prior Cases | 39 |
Merchant v. The Queen, 84 DTC 6215, [1984] CTC 253 (FCTD)
After stating (at p. 6217) tht "I am not convinced that at the time of taking office the taxpayer must know how much he will receive.... [A] specified amount per sitting renders the income sufficiently ascertainable," Reed, J., tentatively concluded, in obiter dicta, that sums that would have been received by an individual as leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party would not be received from an "office" because it could not be said that such a leader knows before taking office, with any degree of certainty, what the amounts would be given that the amounts would be determined annually.
| Locations of other summaries | Wordcount | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax Topics - Income Tax Act - Section 18 - Subsection 18(1) - Paragraph 18(1)(a) - Start-Up and Liquidation Costs | 118 | |
| Tax Topics - Statutory Interpretation - Interpretation/Definition Provisions | "means" is exhaustive | 55 |