Tax Court of Canada appeals — how much of this can I do myself?
Some of it, yes — and we will say so on the call if that is the honest answer. The parts that are worth paying for are the ones where a missed election, a missed deadline or an unverified threshold costs more than the fee: the appeal is framed from the objection record, so what was said at objection matters.
What if I have already filed and got it wrong?
That is a common starting point. We re-derive the position, identify whether an amendment or a disclosure route is the right vehicle, and tell you which one preserves the relief that is still available. The order matters more than the speed.
How long will it take?
It depends on the documents rather than on us. Once the pack is complete most filings turn around inside a fortnight; anything that needs a certificate from a tax authority runs on that authority's timetable, which we tell you at the start rather than at the end.
Can I take my case to Tax Court after an objection is denied?
That is the usual route. An appeal to the Tax Court is framed from the objection record, so the file the appeals officer worked from becomes the starting point rather than a blank page. The time to appeal runs from the date on the confirmation or the reassessment you were sent, so the first thing we ask for is that letter itself. Before anything is filed we read what was actually argued at objection, because a point that was never put, or was put badly, shapes what the appeal can realistically do.
What is the difference between the informal and general procedures?
They differ in cost, in formality and in what the decision is worth afterwards. The informal procedure is lighter and quicker to run; the general procedure is more formal, more expensive, and carries more weight as a precedent. Which one is open to you depends on the amounts in dispute, which is why we work out the disputed amount year by year before recommending either. The choice is not only about cost. If the same issue will recur in later years, the value of a decision as a precedent matters as much as the cost of obtaining it.
Does what I said during the objection still matter at appeal?
Yes, and it surprises people. The appeal is framed from the objection record, so the letters, schedules and admissions already on that file travel with the case. A concession made in passing at objection is awkward to walk back later, and a document produced for the first time at the Tax Court invites the question of why it was not produced before. When we take over a file at this stage we read the whole objection correspondence first, and part of the advice is about what the record already commits you to.
How long do I have to appeal a confirmation or reassessment?
The clock runs from the date on the confirmation or the reassessment, not from the day you opened the envelope or the day you decided to act. Because the limit is counted from that document, we ask for it rather than quoting a general figure, and we check the date on the notice itself against the covering letter and the envelope. If the period looks to have run, that is not automatically the end of the matter, but it changes the first step from filing an appeal to dealing with the lateness.
Will my appeal be heard, or will it settle before that?
Both happen. The Tax Court is where an objection either becomes a decided case or settles, and a great many files resolve before a judge hears them. That is not a failure of the appeal. Filing moves the dispute out of the assessing function and puts it in front of someone whose job is to look at the case as it will be argued, and a position that survived an objection unexamined often gets examined properly for the first time. We prepare a file to be argued, because the file that is ready to be argued is also the one that settles on sensible terms.
Can I appeal if I never filed an objection in time?
The appeal route runs through the objection, so where no objection was filed the question is whether that earlier step can still be opened, rather than whether an appeal can be started. That is a different application with its own timing, and the answer depends on when the assessment was issued and what happened in between. Bring the assessment, any correspondence, and a plain account of the dates. We would rather tell you the route is closed, and what else is available, than file something that is going to be rejected.
Do I need to report a foreign business I own?
Almost certainly, and on more than one form. Canada requires reporting of foreign affiliates on the T1134; the United States has a family of returns keyed to the entity type and your level of control, and several carry penalties that apply whether or not any tax is owed. These are information returns, so the obligation follows the ownership rather than the profit. See T1134.
Do I have to declare my dual citizenship?
A tax return does not generally ask you to declare which passports you hold; it asks about residence, and in the US case it applies to citizens by definition. What does ask is your bank. Account-opening self-certification under FATCA and the Common Reporting Standard asks which countries you are a tax resident or citizen of, and the answer is reported onward to the tax authority. So the practical answer is that the information arrives either way. See FATCA reporting.
