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GST — directors' liability assessment — individual was never a director

My client worked as manager of a fitness club. The owner, "M", offered him a 20% stake in the business, and he bought 20% of the shares of the company. He signed a Shareholders' Agreement, but never agreed to become a director.

My client handled the day-to-day management of the clubs, while M took care of all of the finances and accounting. M was secretive about the financial operations, and did not share information with my client. As it turned out, the company was in financial difficulty and was evicted by the landlord.

After the eviction, my client (without M's involvement) incorporated a new company to reopen the fitness club. My client continued to be involved with M in other fitness clubs. Two years later, my client sold the new company to M as part of terminating all their business dealings.

The CRA sought to collect unremitted GST from the original company, which had no assets. Years later, the CRA came after the directors of the company. Unbeknownst to my client, M had registered both himself and my client with the provincial government as being the directors of that company. The CRA thus assessed my client as a director, for over $285,000.

My client asked me for help. He had never been a director. How were we to prove this to the CRA?

I filed a Notice of Objection, collecting all relevant documentation and setting out carefully the history of the case. I drafted Affidavits from several people, including the company's former lawyer and a former office administrator, swearing to the facts that my client had never been or acted as a director and that M had kept all the company's financial information to himself. I noted that my client had never signed any consent to be a director, and that there was no record in the company's minute book that he had been appointed as a director. Indeed, my client had been consistent in telling the CRA that he had never been a director. I showed that the case law confirmed that, in these circumstances, the CRA needed more evidence than the provincial corporate registry to show that my client had been a director. Finally, I pointed out that even if the CRA were inclined to believe that my client had been a director, he met the "due diligence" test because he was unaware that he was a director. I cited case law clearly supporting this principle.

The CRA appeals officer agreed, and cancelled the $285,000 assessment.

Problem vanished!

(2003)