John Victor Decore v. Her Majesty the Queen, [1974] CTC 791, 74 DTC 6695

The Chief Justice (per curiam) (judgment delivered from the Bench):—It is not necessary to hear you further Mr Cote. We are all agreed that, on an examination of the evidence as a whole the finding of the learned trial judge that the appellant’s accountant omitted to include the amount of the dividend in the appellant’s return “under circumstances amounting to gross negligence” cannot be supported. (We are not deciding, however, that the appellant would have been liable to pay penalty in the circumstances of this case if the circumstances under which the dividend was omitted had amounted to “gross negligence”.) We are of opinion, therefore, that the appeal should be allowed with costs, that the judgment of the Trial Division should be set aside and that the appellant’s assessment for the 1969 taxation year should be referred back to the respondent for reassessment on the basis that the appellant is not liable to pay penalty under subsection 56(2) for the 1969 taxation year.