Cases
Hillis v. A.G. (Canada), 2015 FC 1082
One of the challenges brought by the appellant to the Canadian FATCA legislation (i.e., the Canada-United States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement Implementation Act and ss. 263 to 269 of the Income Tax Act) was that "to the extent that Canada's disclosure of account holder information to the US constitutes 'assistance in collection,' Canada is prohibited [by Art. XXVI A of the Canada-U.S. Convention] from disclosing such information as it relates to Canadian citizens…[so that] account holder information should not be disclosed in cases in which the taxpayer was a Canadian citizen at the time the revenue claim arose" (para. 58). In rejecting this submission and before dismissing the motion, Martineau J stated (at para. 72):
Article XXVI A applies only to cases in which tax liability has been determined and is enforceable, and does not apply to the assessment of tax payable, the verification of taxpayer compliance, or related exchanges of information.
See summary under Treaties – Art. 27.
Chua v. MNR, 2000 DTC 6527 (FCTD)
Article XXVI A of the Canada-U.S. Convention was contrary to section 15 of the Charter in light of the citizenship preference contained in paragraph 8 of Article XXVI A.
See Also
Ben Nevis (Holdings) Ltd. v. Revenue and Customs Commissioners, [2013] BTC 485, [2013] EWCA Civ 578
The most recent Income Tax Convention between the U.K. and South Africa had entered into force on 17 December 2002, and a Protocol providing for mutual collection assistance (through the addition of Article 25A) was subsequently entered into "in respect of requests for assistance made on or after the date of entry into force of this Protocol" of 13 October 2011. After obtaining judgment against a South African resident (Nevis) on 4 March 2011 for Rand 2.6 billion of unpaid taxes for 1998 to 2000, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) (subsequently to 13 October 2011) requested the respondent (HMRC) for collection assistance. In rejecting the taxpayer's submission that Article 25A did not apply to the collection of tax debts arising prior to the coming into force of the 2002 Convention, Lloyd Jones LJ stated (at para. 23):
"Taxes" in Article 25A(2) does not need to be limited by reference to the date of their accrual. Article 25A has no bearing on liability to tax and is merely concerned with proceedings for enforcement. Whereas provisions which modify tax changes need to be linked to the relevant tax period so as to ensure a smooth transition from the existing rules to the new rules, there is no need to make similar provision for administrative provisions such as Article 25A which may, without difficulty, be brought into effect as soon as the Protocol comes into effect.
Administrative Policy
25 July 2012 T.I. 2011-0427221E5 - FBAR penalties
Penalties that the US collects for failure to report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts information under form TD F90-22.1 ("FBAR penalties") are not a "revenue claim," and CRA will therefore not assist in collecting such penalties. An FBAR penalty is imposed under the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, and is therefore not a penalty in respect of US taxes owing.
28 December 2000 T.I. 2000-000391
General discussion of Article XXVI A of the Canada-U.S. Convention.