Cash may be king, but it can cause headaches if the taxman denies your claims

Article content material

It’s usually stated that money is king, however it could not at all times be the most effective methodology of fee relating to coping with the taxman, who could ask you some robust inquiries to justify tax-deductible bills or, on the flip aspect, reveal you earned a minimal quantity of qualifying earnings to reap the benefits of varied advantages or credit.

Article content material

For instance, there’s been a slew of recent cases coping with taxpayers’ eligibility for COVID-19-related advantages, such because the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB), wherein taxpayers needed to show they’d earnings of not less than $5,000 to qualify for these advantages. If these earnings had been paid in money, and by no means deposited in a checking account, the validity of varied taxpayers’ claims was challenged.

However the problem in proving money earnings may come up exterior the realm of pandemic advantages. Take a current case involving a taxpayer’s declare for the Working Earnings Tax Profit (WITB), since changed by the Canada Employees Profit (CWB). The profit is a refundable tax credit score that dietary supplements the earnings of low-income staff, and is obtainable to people 19 years of age or older who aren’t at school full time.

Article content material

For 2022, the CWB is the same as 27 per cent of every greenback of working earnings above $3,000, to a most credit score of $1,428 for single people with out dependents, and $2,461 for households ({couples} and single mother and father). The CWB is phased out at a price of 15 per cent of every greenback of earnings above $23,495 for single people (with out dependents), and $26,805 for households. (Observe that quantities could also be completely different for residents of Alberta, Nunavut and Quebec.)

In 2018, about 1.4 million Canadians obtained the WITB. The important thing to qualifying for the WITB (or the CWB now) is that the person claiming the credit score will need to have “working earnings,” which is basically employment or enterprise earnings.

However how does one show working earnings when you’re paid completely in money?

Article content material

That was the query earlier than the choose in a current Tax Courtroom of Canada case involving a Prince Edward Island resident and his WITB declare for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 taxation years. The taxpayer’s claims had been denied as a result of the Canada Income Company concluded he “was not actively working a enterprise” and had “not earned any working earnings giving entitlement to the WITB.”

By means of background, the taxpayer lives “very modestly” in a trailer along with his spouse and was described by the court docket as a person “gifted with an unbiased spirit.” All through his life, he has held varied jobs, together with as a bar singer in Montreal, in addition to gigs in expertise and building and renovation.

In court docket, the taxpayer was represented by a childhood pal, a tax specialist, who additionally ready his tax returns for the three years in query. His pal additionally occurs to personal a number of properties, the place the taxpayer carried out every kind of labor, together with the renovation of loos, set up of flooring, restore of flood injury and building of galleries and balconies, in addition to plumbing and electrical energy — briefly, something associated to renovation or upkeep.

Article content material

Throughout the tax years in query, the taxpayer solely labored in the course of the summer time as a way to earn sufficient cash for him to spend the winter on a sailboat within the Bahamas. He didn’t want some huge cash as a result of he didn’t have any dependents and had only a few private bills. The annual bills for his sailboat amounted to $5,000. Every winter whereas on his boat, “it price him nothing to stay. He ate what he caught,” and testified, “Life on the ocean shouldn’t be costly … To stay on his sailboat … is … the absolute best life; it’s heaven on earth.”

In 2015, 2016 and 2017, the taxpayer declared enterprise earnings of solely $10,000 to $13,500, as a result of he was crusing for six months of the 12 months. He additionally didn’t incur, nor deduct, any enterprise bills, as his prospects purchased any essential constructing supplies.

Article content material

His pal paid him in money, however the taxpayer didn’t maintain any documentation of the earnings he earned or a register, though, in response to the choose, “he has since realized the significance of protecting a file and preserving any supporting paperwork.” His pal marked the work, or the quantities paid to the taxpayer, on a small calendar and, on the finish of the 12 months, did the accounting. The taxpayer didn’t deposit his earnings in his checking account, however claimed to have declared all his earnings to the CRA on his returns.

Article content material

The CRA argued that the earnings the taxpayer declared was not associated to the operation of a enterprise or employment, as a result of he carried out a cash-only enterprise, stored no information, incurred no enterprise bills and produced no supporting paperwork to assist his claims. The taxpayer and his tax specialist pal relied “nearly solely on their reminiscence, which is unreliable in nature.”

The choose acknowledged that “in a self-assessment system like we’ve in Canada, protecting books and information is essential,” however the failure to maintain good information shouldn’t be, by itself, adequate grounds to dismiss a case.

Absent good books and information, the burden of proof is actually larger and the choose should assess the credibility of the taxpayer and any witnesses, such because the tax specialist. As for operating a money enterprise, the court docket cited prior jurisprudence which concluded: “Using money is authorized and bonafide … and it doesn’t essentially result in a conclusion of tax avoidance.”

The choose weighed all of the proof and was glad the earnings declared by the taxpayer in the course of the years in query did, certainly, relate to the operation of a enterprise, was corroborated by his tax specialist and constituted working earnings. The choose, subsequently, concluded the taxpayer was entitled to the WITB for the three years in query.

Jamie Golombek, CPA, CA, CFP, CLU, TEP is the managing director, Tax & Property Planning with CIBC Non-public Wealth in Toronto. [email protected]