Revenue agency: the supreme Court refuses to hear RONA

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QMI agency

Thursday, 1 February 2018 17:42

UPDATE
Thursday, 1 February 2018 17:45

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OTTAWA | RONA will be required to remit to Revenue Canada the list of his commercial clients, a request that the federal agency made in its fight against tax evasion in the field of construction.

The supreme Court of Canada refused Thursday morning to hear the call of the quincailler.

Unlike other companies in the area that have acceded to the demands of the fisc, RONA is opposed to the approach under the pretext that it is akin to bullying and is only intended to file charges against his clients.

The federal Court had already given due to Revenue Canada in October 2016. The federal Court of appeal had upheld that judgment in June of the following year.

Lowe’s, the parent company of RONA, acknowledged Thursday that the refusal of the supreme Court. “As at each stage of the process that led to today’s decision, RONA intends to act in accordance with the law and with court orders”, said by email the spokesperson Valérie Gonzalo.

The Canada revenue Agency (CRA) “welcomes” the decision, said its head of media relations, Karl Lavoie.

Thanks to the lists of sought after, Revenue Canada wants to ensure that purchases made by trade customers of hardware stores correspond to the information provided in their income tax returns.

A score of dealers in quebec have already cooperated with the agency.

In October, judge Luc Martineau of the federal Court has ruled that the CRA must benefit from wide powers of audit, investigation and inspection”. Revenue Canada has the “power to compel a taxpayer to provide any “information””, one can read in the judgment.

It had also rejected the claim by RONA, according to which the officers of the ARC had based their request for information on a form obtained fraudulently, by posing as construction contractors.

The decision of the supreme Court “will have an impact on the 48,000 business customers of RONA, which are targeted across the country – by the request of the minister. […] It will have an impact on all business customers of all other suppliers of building materials, who will face similar requests in the framework of the national programme of audit implemented by the minister”, had argued the quincailler in its application for leave to appeal filed in August.