The self-directed TFSA of a professional investment advisor was conceded by the TFSA to be carrying on a business of trading in qualified investments. However, the TFSA submitted that the exemption from tax for an RRSP on business income from the disposition of qualified investments in s. 146(4)(b)) should be read into s. 146.2(6) given that the RRSP and TFSA regimes were “mirror images” of each other – so that “that the phrase ‘carries on one or more businesses’ in subsection 146.2(6) should be read so that a TFSA trust that carries on a business of trading investments under well-established common law principles should not be considered to carry on a business for purposes of subsection 146.2(6) when the business involves only trading in qualified investments” (para. 12).
In rejecting this submission, and before dismissing the appeal, Biringer JA stated (at para. 13):
We agree with the Tax Court that the appellant’s reading is unsupported by the text, context, and purpose of subsection 146.2(6), and would amount to a re-drafting of the provision … .