The HST Blog : Canada Harmonized Sales Tax Lawyer Cyndee Todgham Cherniak for Assessments, PST & RST Issues in Ontario, British Columbia & Quebec

Recently, on June 6, 2011, the Tax Court of Canada released its decision in Long Ha v. The Queen.  I will admit that I read the case because of the name of the appellant.  The case was actually very interesting (from a factual perspective).

This case involved a sole proprietorship that was assessed income tax and goods and services tax (GST) on a net worth assessment basis.  The main focus of the appeal was the GST assessment.  Interestingly, Mr. Ha was partially successful in showing that CRA's  net worth calculation was incorrect.

Most interesting is how the case began.  On June 8, 2002, Mr. Ha was returning to Canada and was sent to a secondary inspection by the Canada Border Services Agency.  In the secondary search, $40,000 in cash was discovered.  The matter was referred to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who did not seize the cash.  However, the RCMP were not satisfied with Mr. Ha's explanations as to why he had such a large amount of cash in his possession, the RCMP sent a referral to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) who reviewed Mr. Ha's income tax returns.  The CRA found that the $40,000 was not explained by Mr. Ha's income tax returns.  The CRA took the position that Mr. Ha had unreported income from business (Mr. Ha was a salal picker and fisherman).  The CRA conducted a net worth assessment based on a bank deposit analysis, bank statements, mortgage applications and mortgage statements. The schedule for personal expenditures was calculated using Statistics Canada information to estimate the costs for a single individual.  The CRA assessed Mr. Ha income tax and GST.

Mr. Ha conceded that his income was under reported.  However, he disputed the CRA's net worth calculation as too high.  The CRA felt Mr. Ha's calculation of his unreported income was too low.  The Tax Court had to find the right answer.  The Tax Court found that Mr. Ha's evidence was not credible. His explanation concerning the $40,00 changed each time he told it. When he was stopped in the Vancouver International Airport, he told the authorities that the $40,000 in his possession was from his employment as a fisherman and from a restaurant business. On December 12, 2004, he told a CRA auditor that the $40,000 was from his savings, salal picking and a few hundred dollars from friends. At the hearing before the Tax Court, Mr. Ha testified that the $40,000 was a loan or gift given to him.

After determining that Mr. Ha's evidence was not credible, the Tax Court found that the evidence of a number of witnesses was credible.  As a result, the Tax Court reduced the net worth assessment by the certain amounts that, based on the evidence, were not attributable to business activities (e.g. were loans, insurance proceeds, transfer from spouse, a withdrawal from an RRSP, etc.).

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I often have discussions with clients who are not talented in the record-keeping department.  Usually, the client thinks that their record-keeping is adequate and an auditor informs them otherwise.  Actually, the auditor either issued a large assessment using a net worth methodology or a mark-up analysis methodology - in other words, the auditor assesses an amount equal to what he/she thinks the taxpayer should have made.  Usually, the auditor's methodology inflates the numbers drastically and results in a significant assessment.

In the recent Tax Court of Canada decision in Stanislao v. Her Majesty, the court allowed the appeal because the net worth assessment was adequately challenged.  In this case, the judge restated a succinct description of the net worth audit is found in Bigayan v. The Queen:

The net worth method, as observed in Ramey v. R. (1993), 93 D.T.C. 791 (T.C.C.), is a last resort to be used when all else fails. Frequently it is used when a taxpayer has failed to file income tax returns or has kept no records. It is a blunt instrument, accurate within a range of indeterminate magnitude. It is based on an assumption that if one subtracts a taxpayer's net worth at the beginning of a year from that at the end, adds the taxpayer's expenditures in the year, deletes non-taxable receipts and accretions to value of existing assets, the net result, less any amount declared by the taxpayer, must be attributable to unreported income earned in the year, unless the taxpayer can demonstrate otherwise. It is at best an unsatisfactory method, arbitrary and inaccurate but sometimes it is the only means of approximating the income of a taxpayer.

The Court also restated from Bigayan the ways in which a taxpayer could seek to overturn a net worth assessment:

The best method of challenging a net worth assessment is to put forth evidence of what the taxpayer's income actually is. A less satisfactory, but nonetheless acceptable method is described by Cameron J. in Chernenkoff v. Minister of National Revenue (1949), 49 D.T.C. 680 (Can. Ex. Ct.) at 683:

In the absence of records, the alternative course open to the appellant was to prove that even on a proper and complete "net worth" basis the assessments were wrong.

This method of challenging a net worth assessment is accepted, but even after the adjustments have been completed one is left with the uneasy feeling that the truth has not been fully uncovered. Tinkering with an inherently flawed and imperfect vehicle is not likely to perfect it. …

What this shows is that the Tax Court of Canada will not blindly accept the Canada Revenue Agency's assessment.   As net worth assessment can be refuted. The key is evidence (as it usually is). The problem is the cost to fight the taxman.

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