Principal Issues: How will the Income Tax Rulings Directorate determine remissions, as described in section 7 of the Service Fees Act, for rulings and pre-ruling consultations.
Position: Remissions will apply to rulings and pre-ruling consultations received by the Directorate after April 1, 2021. Information on calculating remissions is described in Appendix H of IC 70-6R11 Advance Income Tax Rulings and Technical Interpretations
2021 STEP CRA Roundtable – June 15, 2021
QUESTION 8. Income Tax Rulings Directorate - Remissions
The fees charged by the Canada Revenue Agency (the “CRA”) for providing an advance income tax ruling or a supplemental ruling (a “Ruling”), and a consultation in advance of a Ruling (a “Pre-ruling Consultation”), are governed by the Service Fees Act (footnote 1) .
In accordance with section 7 of the Service Fees Act, a reduction of a fee (a “remission”) is required where the CRA considers that a service standard has not been met.
Can the CRA describe how a remission will be determined with respect to the fees charged for Rulings and Pre-ruling Consultations?
CRA Response
The objective of the Income Tax Rulings Directorate (the “Directorate”) is to issue a Ruling or complete a Pre-ruling Consultation within a specified, agreed-upon time period.
The service standard for a Ruling is 90 business days commencing with the receipt of all information required from the client as outlined in Appendix A – Ruling Request Checklist of Information Circular IC 70-6R11, Advance Income Tax Rulings and Technical Interpretations (footnote 2) (IC 70-6). The service standard for a Pre-ruling Consultation is to complete a teleconference within 15 business days from the date the Directorate confirms to the client that the request complies with IC 70-6 and has been accepted.
In some cases, achieving these service targets may not be possible. Where the service target date needs to be adjusted, the Directorate will inform the client in advance and establish an alternate, mutually agreed upon service target date.
Remission of the service fee will be granted when the Ruling is issued, or the Pre-ruling Consultation is completed, subsequent to its service target date, as set out in Appendix H – Remissions of IC 70-6.
The remission will be calculated on an incremental basis as a percentage discount on the hourly rate applicable to the hours worked subsequent to the service target date and will be processed as a reduction to the client invoice.
Remission of the service fee, where appropriate, will apply to Rulings or Pre-ruling Consultations received by the Directorate after April 1, 2021. Additional information regarding remissions can be found in Appendix H - Remissions of IC 70-6.
Katie Campbell
2021-088741
FOOTNOTES
Note to reader: Because of our system requirements, the footnotes contained in the original document are shown below instead:
1 S.C. 2017, c. 20, s. 451.
2 IC 70-6R11 Advance Income Tax Rulings and Technical Interpretations was published April 1, 2021