TEI’s Canadian Commodity and Income Tax Committees held their annual liaison meetings with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Department of Finance Canada (DoF) in mid-November.
The annual meetings enable committee members to engage with Canadian government officials on tax compliance and policy matters, with government officials providing substantive real-time feedback. Moreover, the CRA provides written responses to the committees’ liaison meeting questions, which are regularly published on TEI’s website. (The DoF does not provide written responses to TEI’s questions.)
Issues discussed at the Income Tax Committee meetings included an update on Canada’s federal budget, the continued addition of new compliance and information gathering forms required of taxpayers, compliance with Canada’s excessive interest and financing expense limitation (better known as EIFEL) rules, and Canadian legislation implementing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Pillar Two system.
The Commodity Tax Committee discussed numerous issues with the CRA, including continuing challenges with access to CRA online services, concerns about audits and delays in appeals assignments, and requests for clarity on technical provisions under the Excise Tax Act. The committee also had productive conversations with the DoF on a variety of topics, including opportunities to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and increase Canada’s competitiveness, questions about how the CRA’s expanded audit and information-gathering powers in draft legislative proposals would extend to the Excise Tax Act and other statutes, and other challenges related to the Excise Tax Act.
The Canadian liaison meetings are a superb example of TEI’s ability to engage with tax authorities in a constructive and mutually beneficial manner and result from the longstanding efforts of TEI’s Canadian membership to build a strong relationship with the CRA and the DoF. A special thanks to Sandy Shanks of ConocoPhillips Canada, chair of the Canadian Income Tax Committee, and Martin Behagg of Rogers Communications, chair of the Canadian Commodity Tax Committee, for organizing and leading the 2025 Canadian Liaison Meetings. Another thanks goes to Deloitte for hosting a dinner for the participants.
