MELP Enterprises Ltd. v. The King, 2024 TCC 130 -- summary under Agency

The appellant (MELP) was found to be performing its services to Canadian patients who underwent bariatric surgery at the surgical unit in Mexico of a Mexican company (“LIMARP”) as agent given that their conduct - including MELP being subject to control over health-related matters by LIMARP, and being implicitly authorized to deal with the patients before and after the operation, and MELP quite regularly remitting the fees that it collected from the Canadian patients, other than the 50% portion thereof retained by it for its services, to LIMARP – implied an agency arrangement. Accordingly, MELP was not subject to GST/HST on the ½ portion of the patient fees that it collected as agent for LIMARP, given that an agent in acting as such does not make a supply to its principal. Furthermore, given that the "'the actions of the agent are those of the principal'" (para. 93), the activities of LIMARP for purposes of s. VI-V-5 were to be analyzed on the basis that they included the activities of MELP performed as its agent.