In order that the non-capital losses of Lossco would not expire, an affiliated licensee of a licence to manufacture and sell a product made a purported prepayment of the royalties (which were calculated as a function of sales), but with the prepaid royalty being non-refundable. CRA found that this payment likely was not a royalty (given its non-contingent nature) and that the full amount was business income to Lossco either under s. 12(1)(a) (on the basis, applying Ellis Vision, that it “could be considered as an amount paid in advance for the use of chattels”) or under s. 9.
It was not necessary for CRA to “resolve the issue of which of these two provisions prevails because [Lossco] does not wish to benefit from a deduction under paragraph 20(1)(m).”