In Print: “No new taxes”? No: New Taxes. Definitely New Taxes
On the subject of what qualifies as a service of financial intermediation, exempt from GST/HST, we have witnessed a dramatic spectacle in the period between a scant Department of Finance announcement on December 14, 2009, and the passage of the final, problematic legislation, which became just one of a number of prominent bolts protruding from the neck of the Frankenstein monster that was the 2010 federal budget.
The theatrical genre veered towards pantomime on March 26, 2010, when the federal Minister of Finance reassured folks that Canada Revenue Agency Notice No. 250, issued in February 2010, ‘‘...may have gone beyond what the Department of Finance intended.”
The Minister hoped everyone would share his implacable faith in the two magic beans he held out in his palm: ‘‘There is no intention of changing tax policy’’ and ‘‘We are not imposing new taxes.” You can decide after reading this In Print issue if those beans are a ‘buy’ decision for you. The article comments on the range of uncertainties now facing entities that supply or support intermediation services to the financial sector.
Reprinted from the CCH: GST Monitor.
