Indirect Tax

This updated workshop is designed to help organizations avoid potential issues and minimize the inconvenience associated with sales tax audits by providing practical advice on how to prepare for, and manage, the audit and assessment process. All-new breakout sessions and exercises will take participants through the "GST/HST audit from hell", with realistic examples being used to reinforce key concepts. Topics to be covered include:

• How audits can go wrong;
• Planning and preparing for an audit;
• Identifying potential audit issues;
• Managing the audit process;
• Resolving difficult audit issues;
• Reviewing audit assessments; and
• Disputing an assessment.

When you leave this workshop, you will take away an effective strategy for managing sales tax audits that will lead to less intimidating audits, fewer contentious audit issues, and the potential for lower assessments.

Curtis Zimmerman, inspirational speaker and author delivers one of the most dynamic interactive and entertaining programs on North America's corporate lecture circuit today. Laugh, juggle, and play Simon Says, but don't be fooled by all the fun. Curtis' messages are substantive and far-reaching. Be prepared to be empowered, challenged, and changed.

Join Eric Paton as he discusses the hottest topics in HST/GST since the transition last year! This session will cover several topics, each aimed to give HST/GST professionals an up-to-date view of the indirect tax landscape and of key issues that may be top of mind for you, or your clients.

Danny will examine how the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) rules apply to investment plans, including mutual funds, segregated funds and pension plans, in this updated 2011 presentation. This session will highlight key changes from the 2010 paper, new rules and updated examples, as well, it will also:

• Identify both technical and operational issues that we see, and offer our thoughts as to how they can be managed and resolved;
• Translate technical complexity into practical application; and
• Consider the underlying policy behind the rules

When attendees leave the session they will understand the underlying policy behind the HST rules and have a complete picture as to how the rules apply to the various investment plans.

With the various rates changes, harmonization, recaptured input tax credits and recent court cases, it is an excellent time for organizations to revisit the provisions related to the recovery of tax on allowances, reimbursements and rebates. How do the rules apply in today's environment? What is the distinction between reimbursements and allowances and the related tax implications? How are the CRA and other government authorities treating them on audit?
This session will provide a practical analysis of the various allowances and reimbursements provisions and specific issues organizations are facing today with respect to the recovery of tax.

The CICA is once again privileged and pleased to have the participation of the Tax Court of Canada at this year's Symposium. The Honourable Justice Steven D'Arcy will discuss the operation of the Court including the appeal process, settlements and access to the Court. Don't miss this rare opportunity to get this perspective from the other side of the bench.

With the increasing trend to outsource functions offshore, Canadian organizations, need to understand their obligations under the "old" and "new" imported services rules. This session revisits the nuances of the technicalities and inequalities that exist with the treatment of services imported into Canada by Canadian entities from related and unrelated non-residents. The presentation will review the imported services provisions (sections 217 and 217.1) and the interplay between them. The session will cover key areas where organizations may be found to have overpaid GST/HST relative to the imported services rules, along with risk areas that need to be mitigated.

Corporate reorganizations always have numerous tax implications and embedded tax issues. Join Henry Visser, as he walks you through some of the more common commodity tax issues in corporate reorganizations. This session will not only outline the common risk areas, but also help you identify and mitigate potential pitfalls.

The Excise Tax Act contains requirements for the self-assessment of some builders of newly-constructed single-unit and multi-unit housing. When certain conditions are met, these builders are required to pay GST/HST based on the fair market value of the complex at the time of a triggering event. While this concept seems relatively simple, the application of these rules often leads to great uncertainty. Neither the CRA nor the courts have provided true guidance as every case seems to turn on its own facts. This session will examine the issues faced by builders and will highlight certain principles to guide them in complying with their self-assessment obligations.

Professor Jack Mintz is the former president and CEO of the C.D. Howe Institute and world-renowned fiscal and tax policy specialist. He currently holds the Chair position at the School of Policy Studies at the University of Calgary, and focuses his research on public economics, tax policy, corporate taxation and comparative tax systems. Take advantage of this opportunity to hear Professor Jack Mintz, provide his views on the topic of implementing a value added tax system in the United States.

Join Margaret Hoffman of Ernst & Young for a 45-minute breakfast session as she demonstrates how to search, save and share documents quickly and easily on knotia.ca, CICA's revolutionary search platform. Margaret will also show attendees how to download and use Ernst & Young's Annotated Excise Tax Act eBook, which is available for use on a computer, Smartphone, or tablet.

Continental breakfast will be served.

Governments around the world are struggling to balance their books due to the lingering effects of the global financial crisis. This has triggered a renewed interest in VAT/GST as many governments are looking at consumption taxes to address fiscal consolidation pressures. What can be done to help countries maintain fiscal balance, and even stave off potential default? Join our European keynote speaker from the OECD, Piet Battiau, to hear his thoughts on the future of VAT systems, and how the development of best practice policies and international guidance to ensure consistent interaction between VAT/GST systems can support international trade and help governments survive this economic downturn.

Senior government representatives from CRA have been invited by CICA to give a timely report on the policy initiatives of the day and an update on the administrative and practical issues that have arisen over the last year. Always one of the most popular features of the Symposium, the Q&A session will highlight responses to questions submitted to CRA in advance that involve the major issues of concern to practitioners and industry professionals.

Many tax matters involve both civil and criminal exposure for clients, which can intimidate practitioners. This paper and presentation will include a review of the commonly encountered quasi-criminal provisions in the ETA, ITA and Customs Act, including: failure to file a return, making false or deceptive statements, and tax evasion. The discussion will then turn to issues commonly faced by accountants in these situations, including the difference between "intentional" acts, and being "willfully blind" to tax non-compliance, issues surrounding "privileged" documents and communications, governmental "searches and seizures", and the choice a client ultimately has in providing full, limited or no information to governmental authorities in these situations.

Get up to date on the status of Public Sector Bodies ("PSB") issues currently under review by the CRA, and working their way through appeals or the Courts. This session will shed light on newly relevant issues impacting municipalities, universities and health authorities since the implementation of HST in British Columbia and Ontario. Some of the key issues focused on will relate to taxable supplies made by municipalities to the provincial government, allocation of tax paid as ITC's within the University environment, the criteria of eligibility for the 83% rebate made available for facility supplies, and taxable benefits from within a PSB environment.

Un des points forts du Symposium est cette table ronde, tenue exclusivement en français, où des fonctionnaires de Revenu Québec sont invités à présenter l'interprétation de certaines dispositions du régime de la TVQ ainsi que divers projets récents entrepris à Revenu Québec. On y discutera aussi des principaux enjeux auxquels sont confrontés les praticiens et les entreprises aujourd'hui, de certaines questions administratives, de modifications techniques et de cas de jurisprudence importants.

La table ronde se terminera par une période de questions où vous pourrez obtenir des réponses sur les sujets qui vous préoccupent le plus.

This session will outline many of the practical challenges organizations face when trying to administer the complex technical GST/HST rules, and will propose solutions for achieving compliance. With most organizations having experienced a year of the new regime, the presentation will include best practices implemented by businesses, as well as the potential risk areas that could be overlooked. When you leave this session, you will better understand many of the technical nuances of the pension rules, what organizations have been doing and can do to mitigate their risks with administering the complex rules.

This session will focus on recent, important developments in the areas of customs and international trade. The focus of the session will be on the new Incoterms 2010 which came into effect on January 1, 2011 and how trade terms impact the amount of customs duties as well as GST/HST payable on domestic as well as cross-border movement of goods. You will also learn about developments in the area of customs, including the AMPS customs penalty regime and a presentation on recent Federal Court jurisprudence on AMPS. The session will also include a review of recent legislative and regulatory changes affecting commodity tax practitioners.

In this session, our speakers will share with the participants, audit, legal and administrative issues encountered by entities doing business in Quebec in properly applying GST and QST. The speakers will ask the participants to share their own experience with the MRQ or the CRA in similar situations. Although practitioners know the rules, through such discussions, they will have a better understanding of the pitfalls, the differences between the GST and the QST, and the specific rules adopted by the MRQ to avoid putting themselves in situations leading to assessments.

Are you caught in the "trap" and not even aware of it? This paper will discuss the criteria that must be met to be a financial institution, and the numerous implications if you are. Many businesses can fall into the rules under these paragraphs without realizing it and where a person is caught by the "trap" they will be required to begin claiming ITCs on all acquisitions based on the percentage of use in that persons GST/HST taxable activities. In addition, many other issues can also arise from being caught in the "trap," and will be discussed throughout this session.

Join Eric Paton as he discusses the hottest topics in HST/GST since the transition last year! This session will cover several topics, each aimed to give HST/GST professionals an up-to-date view of the indirect tax landscape and of key issues that may be top of mind for you, or your clients.

Registrants who incur GST in the course of commercial activities often take for granted the fact that they will fully recover such tax by way of input tax credits (ITC), but many are surprised to find that their circumstances do not fit the strict requirements of the relevant ETA provisions. This session will help you recognize potential ITC traps, common compliance mistakes, and it will provide a considered analysis of the corresponding relieving provisions of the ETA, including section 296.

For each of these aspects, the discussion will include a review of the relevant statutory provisions, examination of the Crown's interpretation thereof, consideration of governing jurisprudence, and practical suggestions for avoiding or "unlocking" trapped ITCs.

This session will provide the non-FI practitioner with an overview of the SAM formula by exploring each element of the formula from A to G through using common examples. Although not specifically geared towards the FI practitioner, this session will also serve as a refresher by highlighting issues that are typically encountered when gathering the data and performing the calculation.

HST is a real and significant cost to persons acquiring or supplying residential accommodation. The transition to HST across the country has significantly increased the cost of error or CRA challenge and raised the profile of the unanswered questions in the area of residential real property development.

This session will cover current HST issues in connection with the following:

• Co-developments
• Issue and opportunities in residential development son First Nations reserves
• Problems in the application of GST/HST to residences in resort communities
• Assignment of condominium purchase contracts
• Problems with exemptions applicable to residential care facilities
• Subdivision of residential properties

With the various rates changes, harmonization, recaptured input tax credits and recent court cases, it is an excellent time for organizations to revisit the provisions related to the recovery of tax on allowances, reimbursements and rebates. How do the rules apply in today's environment? What is the distinction between reimbursements and allowances and the related tax implications? How are the CRA and other government authorities treating them on audit?
This session will provide a practical analysis of the various allowances and reimbursements provisions and specific issues organizations are facing today with respect to the recovery of tax.

This session will inform Symposium participants of recent important developments in commodity tax jurisprudence, including on-going appeals to monitor, and to highlight the practical significance and possible application of the new case law. Attendees will gain a better understanding of important new, affirmed and pending commodity tax jurisprudence on fundamental issues, and of how those decisions are likely to be relevant in various practical circumstances.

With the implementation of the deemed supply and pension rebate provisions, and new Selected Listed Financial Institution ("SLFI") rules, pension plans and their employer-sponsors now face some of the most demanding compliance requirements in the GST/HST regime. Compliance has been a particular challenge as taxpayers and their advisors have had to cope with a complex maze of backgrounders, draft regulations, and evolving interpretations.

This session will provide a hands-on explanation of the deemed supply rules, setting out how the tax is calculated in a variety of scenarios. It will detail the claiming of the pension rebate for both SLFI plans and non-SLFI plans. Finally, it will demonstrate the completion of the SLFI return, clarifying what was required for the 2010 return, and what is expected for the 2011 return, incorporating the most up-to-date information available from the Department of Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency.