The taxpayer (Mr. Leonard) acquired, from a US bank, a mortgage loan of a US debtor who was in default, for a purchase price of around $1.3 million. Two years later, after the completion of foreclosure proceedings, the taxpayer purchased the property, as the only bidder under the resulting auction, for $500,000. In response to the taxpayer’s submission that he was entitled to recognize a loss in 2011 from an adventure in the nature of trade, Webb JA stated (at para. 65):
Assuming the debt was inventory acquired in carrying on an adventure or concern in the nature of trade, no loss will be realized until there was a disposition of the debt. Subsection 10(1.01) of the Act provides that for any person carrying on an adventure or concern in the nature of trade, any property described in inventory is valued at the cost at which the taxpayer acquired the asset. As a result, if Mr. Leonard were carrying on a business that is an adventure or concern in the nature of trade, he would not be entitled to claim any amount as an inventory write-down in relation to the debt. Any loss would only be realized when there is a disposition of that debt.