Thor Tax Alerts

What to expect in a Vancouver vacancy tax audit

2018-07-26T08:00:05-07:00

For the past few months, the City of Vancouver has been conducting audits to verify the 2017 vacancy tax declarations filed by owners under the City’s Vacancy Tax By-Law No. 11674. Observers of the tax, which is unique in Canada, have…

Tax Court Rules that VISA’s Services are Subject to GST/HST

2018-06-22T12:50:02-07:00

The Tax Court of Canada last week released a landmark decision on the GST/HST status of certain commonplace transaction processing services, namely VISA’s payment platform offering to financial institutions.

In Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce v Her Majesty the Queen,…

BC’s Unclear Speculation Tax is Creating Legal Concerns for Unintended Targets

2018-05-01T12:24:57-07:00

A few months ago, BC announced a new “speculation tax” that will apply to certain residential properties in the province. The tax is intended to capture foreign and domestic speculators, “satellite families” who live in BC but pay little BC…

Federal Court of Appeal Rules on GAAR Again

2018-04-17T10:57:26-07:00

In Fiducie financière Satoma c. Canada, 2018 CAF 74, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled on the General Anti-Avoidance Rule (the “GAAR”) again this year (see our previous Alert re: Oxford Properties). In upholding the Tax Court of Canada,…

Deadline Approaching to Dispute Vacancy Tax Notices

2018-04-12T16:38:39-07:00

Monday, April 16, 2018, is the deadline to submit notices of complaint to dispute vacancy tax notices. Any registered owner who received a vacancy tax notice could potentially submit a complaint, even if they were the cause of an error…

BC Leaves Much to Speculate about the So-Called Speculation Tax

2018-03-29T16:38:02-07:00

The BC government has proposed to introduce a new residential realty tax, taking effect this year. While BC has provided a general overview of the new tax by way of information sheets and public announcements, the government has yet to…

Quebec Goes It Alone

2018-03-27T17:21:39-07:00

The Province of Quebec announced today that it intends to expand its requirements for non-resident vendors to collect and remit Quebec Sales Tax (“QST”) on sales to Quebec consumers, effective as early as January 1, 2019. In this context “non-resident”…

Corporate Passive Investment Changes in 2018 Federal Budget

2018-03-02T13:47:03-08:00

In the 2018 Federal Budget, the Department of Finance released another chapter in its saga to overhaul how private corporations and their shareholders are taxed. Finance’s initial consultation paper of July 18, 2017 (see our summary here) was met…

Thorsteinssons Welcomes Robert Carvalho

2018-03-02T11:39:02-08:00

Thorsteinssons LLP is pleased to announce that Robert Carvalho has joined our Vancouver office. Mr. Carvalho comes to us from the Department of Justice, where he had a very distinguished career in the Tax Litigation section.

Subjecting transfers of beneficial ownership to PTT is not as simple as it might seem

2018-02-19T09:04:03-08:00

BC’s Property Transfer Tax Act (“PTTA”) currently taxes only registered transfers of realty. In other words, it essentially taxes transfers of legal ownership, but not transfers of beneficial ownership. Numerous BC governments have for years considered expanding the scope of…