Tax Court of Canada The Most Important Court

Tax Court of Canada The Most Important Court in Canada Hon. Eugene P. Rossiter Chief Justice, Tax Court of Canada

• Canadian Court Structure • There are basically four levels of court in Canada. First there are provincial/territorial courts, which handle the great majority of cases that come into the system. Second are the provincial/territorial superior courts. These courts deal with more serious crimes and also take appeals from provincial/territorial court judgments. On the same level, but responsible for different issues, is the Federal Court. At the next level are the provincial/territorial courts of appeal and the Federal Court of Appeal, while the highest level is occupied by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Jurisdiction • • IT and GST – Personal and Corporate – Income Tax (80%) – Goods and Services Tax (15%) – Other (5%) Canadian Tax System – 100 % Voluntary

Representation – 60% Lay Litigants or Representative/Agent – 40% Legal Counsel • Exclusively a Trial Court – Adversarial System • 44 Weeks per year, 59 Cities/Towns

• TCC Client: – – – Individuals Corporations Non-Residents Charities Trusts

• Interesting Annual Numbers: – – – 100, 000 Objections 50, 000 Settled in whole or in part in favour of taxpayer 40, 000 Go by the way-side 10, 000 Could appeal 5, 000 to 6, 000 Appeal 2, 500 to 3, 000 TCC disposed of

Some “Everys” Income Tax • • • Every Canadian must file T 1 annually from age 18 years to one year after they die Every Corporation … Every Non-Resident … Every Charity … Every Trust … Goods & Services Tax - Every business files GST returns quarterly CPP – Over age 60 … OAS – Over age 65 … EI - … What are these filings all about?

Needs to Know • Four things every Canadian needs to survive daily: – – Food! Air! Water! Money! • Three things every Canadian values more than any other: – Health – Family – Money • What does the TCC deal with: The Public’s

Who is the Most Important Court in the Country?