Tax Tips: First Quarter 2020

We provide tax tips on available benefits, CRA policies, and more.

1ST QUARTER 2020 TAX TIPS

Overview

Taxable Benefit: Parking Pass

• In a Federal Court of Appeal case, the Court upheld the previous Tax Court decision which classified an employer-provided parking pass as a taxable benefit to an employee of an airline.

Property Flipping: Income or Capital?

• In a Tax Court of Canada case, at issue was whether the sales of four properties in B.C. were on account of income (fully taxable) or capital (half taxable).

Real Estate Sales: Taxable or not?

• When a sale on “account of capital” involves the sale of a principal residence, the tax may be reduced or eliminated by using the principal residence exemption.

Loan From a Sibling’s Corporation: Is it Taxable?

• CRA reassessed a taxpayer to add loans received from a corporation controlled by her brother and his wife to her income.

Employment Expenses: Commuting?

• In a Tax Court of Canada case, at issue was the deductibility of a number of employment expenses incurred by the taxpayer.

Trusts for Disabled Beneficiaries: Good News!

• In a Supreme Court of Canada case, a disabled individual was denied rent assistance on the basis that the assets of a trust under her father’s will were considered to be assets in which she had a beneficial interest.