Black v. R. – FCA: Federal Court of Appeal dismisses Conrad Black tax appeal from the bench in 6 paragraphs

Bill Innes on Current Tax Cases

http://decisions.fca-caf.gc.ca/fca-caf/decisions/en/item/99839/index.do New Window

Black v. Canada (November 26, 2014 – 2014 FCA 275) dealt with an appeal from a decision of the Tax Court (blogged earlier on this site) holding that Canada could tax income of Mr. Black not taxed in the United Kingdom despite Mr. Black’s UK residency and the provisions of the Canada-United Kingdom Income Tax Convention:

http://decision.tcc-cci.gc.ca/tcc-cci/decisions/en/item/66377/index.do New Window

In a somewhat surprising decision the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal from the bench in 6 brief paragraphs:

[1] In thoughtful and comprehensive reasons cited as 2014 TCC 12, Chief Justice Rip of the Tax Court of Canada determined that the Minister of National Revenue may assess tax against the appellant in respect of certain specifically enumerated items of income on the basis that the appellant was a resident of Canada for the purposes of the Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.) (Act).

[2] This is an appeal from that decision.

[3] Two issues are raised in this appeal. The primary issue is whether the Tax Court correctly determined that although the appellant was deemed to be a resident of the United Kingdom under the Canada-United Kingdom Tax Convention (1978) (Convention), the Minister could assess tax on the basis that the appellant was a resident of Canada for the purposes of the Act.

[4] The second issue is whether the Tax Court correctly determined that Article 27(2) of the Convention applied so as to permit the Minister to tax the appellant’s non-United Kingdom income, not just the appellant’s income that arose in Canada.

[5] In our view, Chief Justice Rip made no error in his interpretation of the Convention. We reach this conclusion substantially for the reasons given by him.

[6] It follows that the appeal will be dismissed with costs in this Court.