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GST — were courses educational or recreational?

My client operated a small business in Alberta that offered instructional courses. Based on information he obtained from Revenue Canada, he understood the courses to be exempt. He therefore did not collect GST. After a year or so of operation, Revenue Canada contacted him and asked why he had not registered. He wrote back, explaining that he understood his courses to be exempt. Revenue Canada treated his letter as a ruling request and wrote back to him with a "ruling" stating that the program was recreational and therefore taxable.

My client wrote back twice more, each time explaining that Revenue Canada had misunderstood his operation and that his courses were exempt. Each time he received another (unsolicited) "ruling" telling him that the program was taxable. After about three years, Revenue Canada assessed my client for failing to collect and remit GST. The amount of the assessment would have bankrupted him.

At this point the client came to me for assistance. I determined that he was probably right about the courses being exempt, and filed a 10-page Notice of Objection with many pages of supporting material and analysis showing why the courses were exempt.

While waiting for the objection to be dealt with, I also negotiated with senior officials in the local Revenue Canada office to hold off on collection action, rather than insisting on payment of the amount assessed - which would have put my client out of business.

The Appeals Officer who reviewed the Notice of Objection agreed with my submissions that the courses were exempt. After asking me for some additional documents to confirm the information I had submitted, he cancelled the assessment and de-registered my client.

Problem vanished!

(1998)