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Return to Advance income tax rulings

Information requirements

Information requirements for an advance income tax ruling request

Advance income tax ruling requests must include copies of all relevant documents and contain the following (whether or not the taxpayer or the taxpayer's representative has previously received a ruling similar to the ruling requested):

(a)

the taxpayer's name and address, social insurance number, tax account number or Business Number as the case may be, and the location of the tax services office and taxation centre where the taxpayer's return is filed;

(b)

if the request is made by a representative of the taxpayer, written evidence that the representative is authorized to act for the taxpayer in requesting the ruling as well as the taxpayer's name and address and, other than in instances where the request is on behalf of a number of unidentified individuals, the taxpayer's social insurance number, tax account number or Business Number as the case may be;

(c)

a prepayment of the fee (the required advance payment) payable to the Receiver General for Canada and if the ruling request is made by an authorized representative of the taxpayer, an undertaking by the authorized representative to pay such further fees as may be payable in respect of the ruling application as required by this Information Circular or other public notification;

(d)

a statement as to whether any of the issues involved in the ruling request, to the best of the taxpayer's and the taxpayer representative's knowledge:

(i)	is in an earlier return of the taxpayer or a related person,
(ii)	is being considered by a tax services office or taxation centre in connection with a previously filed tax return of the taxpayer or a related person,
(iii)	is under objection by the taxpayer or a related person,
(iv)	is before the courts or, if a judgment has been issued, the time limit for appeal to a higher court has expired2, and
(v)	is the subject of a ruling previously considered by the Directorate;

(e)

a complete description of the facts and a complete description of each proposed transaction;

(f)

a disclosure of the impact that the proposed transactions could have on outstanding tax liabilities of the taxpayers identified in the ruling request;

(g)

with regard to each proposed transaction covered by the ruling request:

(i)	a statement of its purposes,
(ii)	the taxpayer's interpretation of the application of the provisions of the Act or Regulations that are relevant, and
(iii)	a description of the income tax concern that is the cause of the request for the ruling;

(h)

to ensure that the Directorate has a complete understanding of the circumstances, a complete description of significant transactions that were completed by the taxpayer prior to the time of submission of the ruling request or that may be undertaken after the completion of the proposed transactions, which may be part of the series of transactions;

(i)

a summary of relevant facts contained in any supporting agreements or documents;

(j)

where the ruling requested concerns the application of the general anti-avoidance rule to a transaction (subsection 245(2)), submissions to establish that the transaction would not result directly or indirectly in a misuse of the provisions of the Act or an abuse having regard to the provisions of the Act read as a whole;

(k)

where relevant to the ruling request, an analysis of authorities (including case law citations, published commentaries, etc.) known to the taxpayer or the authorized representative which support the taxpayer's position, and those that do not, with submissions why the authorities in support of the taxpayer's position should prevail;

(l)

the consent of the taxpayer for the release of the ruling, in severed form, to the public, see Consent to release an advance income tax ruling to the public;

(m)

a statement identifying the information to be deleted from the text of the ruling before it is released, signed and dated by the taxpayer or the taxpayer's authorized representative. When the taxpayer wants only the information in (a) above deleted (i.e., names, addresses and identifying numbers), this should be stated in the deletions statement and no explanation is required. When the taxpayer wants additional information deleted (i.e., financial information, industry information, trade secrets, business locations, new products or processes etc., or any other information) this should be stated and the reasons for deleting this information should be provided. These are examples of reasons for deleting information:

it is reasonable to conclude that a specific taxpayer could be identified because of the nature or peculiarities of that information,
information that, if disclosed, may harm a taxpayer's competitive position, or
it is reasonable to conclude that such information would directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the taxpayer to whom it relates.

The same procedure should be followed for the identification of deletions from any additional information submitted after the initial request; and

(n)

a diskette containing the relevant information (WordPerfect, WORD 6.0, DOS or ASCII) to expedite the processing of the ruling request.

In addition, the taxpayer may wish to include a Standard Authorization for EMail and Facsimile Transmission. For more information, see Making a request.

To assist the Directorate in commencing work on a file promptly and in the order received, taxpayers and their authorized representatives are asked to include all applicable elements from (a) to (n) above when submitting their ruling request. The responsibility for providing complete and adequate information is that of the taxpayer or the taxpayer's authorized representative.



Date modified: 2005-05-24	Top of page	Important notices