| September 8, 1989 | |
| REVIEW COMMITTEE | Small Business and |
| General Division | |
| J.D. Jones | |
| 957-2104 | |
| File No. 7-3795 |
Subject: District Office Referral 24(1) Application of Section 80.4
The issue in the above matter is whether the provisions of subsection 80.4(3) of the Income Tax Act (the "Act") are applicable with respect to loans from the employer 24(1) to employees resulting in the provisions of subsection 80.4(1) of the Act not being applied to any of the loans.
24(1)
(2) Terms and Conditions of Loans
24(1)
(3) Interest Spread and Pricing Policy
24(1)
The Department has taken the following position:
The provisions of subsection 80.4(3) of the Act do not apply to the loans as interest charged on the loans is less than the rate that would have been agreed to between parties dealing with each other at arm's length.
24(1)
24(1) The proper test for determining whether a rate of interest is an arm's length rate of interest is a comparison of the actual rates of interest with those paid on other comparable loans and in this case there are no other comparable loans in the market place.
We discussed this file informally with Legal Services who were in agreement with the position we have taken.
Recommendation
We recommend the Department maintain its position that subsection 80.4(1) of the Act applies in this situation.
ChiefPersonal and General SectionSmall Business and General DivisionSpecialty Rulings DirectorateLegislative and IntergovernmentalAffairs Branch