Canada v. Irving Oil Ltd., 2002 DTC 6716, 2001 FCA 364 -- summary under Canadian Manufacturing and Processing Profits

The taxpayer, who carried on an active business of refining crude oil and marketing refined petroleum products, paid the amount of a disputed income tax assessment and received interest on a refund of the tax when its objection was successful. Sharlow J.A., in finding such interest was income from an active business, noted that if there were no such thing as refund interest, the taxpayer might well have chosen to provide security for the disputed assessment rather than paying it, with the result that it probably would have made business profits from the use of its money for the many years it took to resolve the dispute, that the taxpayer had only one business and that the decision to pay tax in dispute was a business activity.