Importance of Best Evidence in Tax Appeals

2016 TCC 257 · Tax Court of Canada

Originally published on IncomeTaxAct.ca on 18 November 2016. The law may have changed since; check the current text in the tax wiki.

Importance of Best Evidence in Tax Appeals

Azhar v The Queen, 2016 TCC 257

This case isn’t important in relation to substantive tax law. Rather, it demonstrates the importance of providing the best evidence available, including witnesses whose actions, intentions, and/or perceptions are material to and probative of the issues in the case.

The Taxpayer and her Agent did not call persons whose testimony would have helped demolish the Minister’s case. The Court stated at paragraph 11:

In summary, it is entirely possible that the Appellant’s mother-in-law did in fact move in and live in the house. Unfortunately, the evidence before me simply does not allow me to conclude that this is more likely than not what happened. For that reason, I am dismissing the appeal.

Sas Tullo, BSc BEd PC JD LLM PhD (exp) CPA In-Depth Tax 1, 2 &3