Words and Phrases - "taxi"
Uber B.V. v Commissioner of Taxation, [2017] FCA 110
The taxpayer used his Honda Civic vehicle to provide uberX driver services, whereby an app allowed registered riders to request transportation services from an uberX driver using the driver’s own vehicle. Although enterprises with a turnover of less than $75,000 were usually not required to register for GST purposes, s 144-5 in Pt 4-5(1) of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (Cth) (the GST Act) required registration “if, in carrying on your enterprise, you supply taxi travel,” which was defined in s 195-1 of the GST Act as meaning “travel that involves transporting passengers, by taxi or limousine, for fares.”
Before declaring that the taxpayer was supplying “taxi travel,” Griffiths J stated (at paras. 135, 138):
… I consider that the words in s 195-1 should be given their ordinary, everyday meanings and not a trade or specialised meaning (including one which reflects what Dr Abelson describes as a “regulatory concept”). I accept …that the ordinary meaning of the word “taxi” is a vehicle available for hire by the public and which transports a passenger at his or her direction for the payment of a fare that will often, but not always, be calculated by reference to a taximeter. …
The fact that his car did not have a taximeter installed in it is not determinative….
Griffiths J also noted (at para. 143) “that some limited assistance is obtained from the mischief identified in the Explanatory Memorandum” to the Bill, which identified difficulties that arose where some taxi drivers were registered and others were not.
Uber Canada Inc. v. ARQ, 2016 QCCS 2158, aff'd 2016 QCCA 1303
The ARQ obtained a search warrant for searching an Uber Canada office in Montreal, which under s. 40 of the Tax Administration Act (Quebec), required that the ARQ employee laying the information have reasonable grounds to believe that Uber Canada was committing an offence, on the grounds that (1) Uber Canada (which was registered for QST purposes) was making false returns by not treating the per-drive commissions of 20% which it earned from its Quebec drivers as being consideration for taxable supplies, and (2) it was aiding the drivers in committing the offence of wilfully evading the collection of QST by virtue of its system for collecting the customer fares (through the customers’ credit cards) not treating those fares as being subject to QST (or GST).
Cournoyer JCS, in his capacity of judge reviewing the validity of the search warrant after it had been granted and executed, rejected an Uber Canada challenge to the second ground, on the basis of the failure of the information to disclose to the granting judge that many of the drivers could be small suppliers. Under s. 407.1 of the Quebec Sales Tax Act (similar to s. 240(1.1) of the ETA), a small supplier who carried on a taxi business was required to register, and the Quebec Act respecting transportation services by taxi required the registration of the Uber drivers’ cars as taxis. He stated (at para. 207, TI translation):
One cannot claim that one escapes the application of a law on the basis of one’s own delinquence.
The second ground was sufficient to justify the issuance of the search warrant, so that the first ground was not addressed.
| Locations of other summaries | Wordcount | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax Topics - Income Tax Act - Section 231.3 - Subsection 231.3(3) | it was reasonable for ARQ on a search to seize smart phones and laptops to make subsequent complete copies | 440 |
| Tax Topics - General Concepts - Illegality | Uber drivers' breach of provincial registration statute did not justify their failure to register for QST purposes | 238 |
| Tax Topics - Other Legislation/Constitution - Charter (Constitution Act, 1982) - Section 8 | seizure of computers containing personal information was the only practicable approach | 142 |