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Income tax — deduction for Power of Attorney fees

My client managed her grandmother's financial affairs under a Power of Attorney, as her elderly grandmother had dementia and was severely disabled.

My client spent a lot of time on managing her grandmother's substantial investments, and paid herself from her grandmother's assets as permitted by the Ontario Substitute Decisions Act. On her grandmother's income tax return, she claimed a deduction for these fees.

The CRA challenged three years of these deductions, and the client came to me for help.

I wrote a detailed letter to the CRA, explaining two different ways in which the expenses could qualify for deduction (Income Tax Act paragraph 20(1)(bb) and subsection 9(1)). For each of these I stepped through the legislation, the conditions and the case law and showed why the deductions should be allowed. I also helped my client clean up her internal records and ensure she collected and remitted HST on her fees.

The CRA accepted my letter and allowed the deductions to the grandmother.

Problem solved!

(2016)